A new analysis gives us the most recent estimate of how many LGBT parents are raising children in the U.S., and which states have the highest percentage of LGBT people doing so.
The “Adult LGBT Population in the United States” study, by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, looked at data from the Gallup Daily Tracking Survey, an annual phone survey of approximately 350,000 adults in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. It found that an estimated 4.5 percent of adults in the United States, approximately 11.3 million people, identify as LGBT. Of those, 70 percent are over age 25, and 29 percent of those over 25 are raising children. If we run those numbers, it means that roughly 2.3 million LGBT adults over the age of 25 are raising children.
Note that this is not the same as the total number of LGBT parents in the U.S. (even leaving aside those under 25). Many LGBT people have raised kids who are no longer in their homes. A 2013 study by the Williams Institute found that an estimated 3 million LGBT Americans have had a child and as many as 6 million American children and adults (some grown) have an LGBT parent.
Looking just at LGBT populations, the states with the highest percentage of LGBT people raising children are not what you might expect. They are:
- Idaho 44%
- Utah 40%
- Oklahoma 38%
- Arkansas 36%
- Delaware 35%
- Mississippi 34%
- Indiana 34%
- Alaska 34%
- Kansas 33%
- Nebraska 32%
Keep in mind that these are not the percentages of LGBT parents raising kids in the general population, just the percentage of them in the LGBT population. The states above do not have the highest numbers of LGBT people overall, so the number of LGBT parents raising kids in these states may not be the highest. It’s just that among LGBT people in these states, a higher percentage is raising children. Flipped around, we can also observe that while D.C. has the highest percentage of LGBT adults in the general population (9.8 percent of all adults), it also has the lowest percentage of LGBT people who are raising kids (9 percent of LGBT people over 25). (Unfortunately, state-by-state numbers of LGBT parents are not available, and my crack data analysis team (me) does not have time to attempt them.)
Check out Williams’ handy LGBT Data & Demographics interactive tool for more insight into the LGBT population in the U.S. and our socioeconomic and racial composition. It’s not fully cross-referenced with our parental status (the 2013 study has some further information in that regard), but does show that the top 10 states with the highest percentage of LGBT people who are unemployed include Alaska (15 percent) and Delaware (12 percent). Those that have the highest percentage of LGBT people who are food insecure include Delaware (39 percent) and Oklahoma (36 percent). Since these states also have among the highest percentage of LGBT people raising kids, it suggests that many of these families may be struggling to feed their children. (And speaking generally, we’ve known for a long time that many LGBT parents and their children across the country face economic hardships.)
This data comes on the heels of a study by Family Equality Council showing that 63 percent of LGBTQ millennials (ages 18 to 35)—up to 3.8 million people—are considering becoming first-time parents or adding more children to their families. Additionally, 77 percent of LGBTQ millennials are either already parents or considering having children. The bottom line is that there are a lot of us LGBTQ parents and our children and even more on the way.