Publications Demographics
Report

White LGBT Adults in the US

LGBT well-being at the intersection of race
January 2022
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This report analyzes several data sources to provide information on adults who self-identify as White and LGBT in the U.S. and by region. It focuses on demographic characteristics and several key domains of well-being, including mental health, physical health, economic health, and social and cultural experiences.

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Highlights
The White LGBT adult population is younger than the White non-LGBT adult population.
White LGBT adults are more likely to experience economic insecurity than White non-LGBT
adults.
White LGBT adults are almost twice as likely as White non-LGBT adults to be unemployed and food insecure.
Data Points
6 million
White LGBT adults live in the U.S.
45%
of White LGBT adults are under age 35
22%
of non-LGBT adults are under 35
20%
of White LGBT adults live alone
17%
of White non-LGBT adults live alone
36%
of White LGBT adults live in low-income households
27%
of White non-LGBT adults do
9%
of White LGBT adults are unemployed
5%
of White non-LGBT adults are
22%
of White LGBT adults have fair or poor health
17%
of White non-LGBT adults have the same health status
37%
of White LGBT adults have been diagnosed with depression
18%
of White non-LGBT adults have the same diagnosis
8%
of White LGBT adults have Medicaid as their primary insurance
4%
of White non-LGBT adults do
42%
of White LGBT adults have experienced physical or sexual assault
77%
of White LGBT adults have faced verbal assault or abuse
Report

Executive Summary

More than 11.3 million LGBT adults live in the U.S.1 They are a part of every community throughout the country, and they are diverse in terms of personal characteristics, socioeconomic outcomes, health status, and lived experiences. While LGBT people are similar to their non-LGBT counterparts in many ways, they also show differences that illuminate their unique needs and experiences related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

About 60% of LGBT adults identify as White.2 In this report, we analyze data from several sources to provide information about adults who self-identify as White and LGBT. We present an overview of their demographic characteristics and focus on several key domains of well-being, including mental health, physical health, economic health, and social and cultural experiences. In addition, we compare White LGBT and non-LGBT adults across these indicators in order to explore differences related to sexual orientation and gender identity among White Americans. For several key indicators, we also compare White LGBT and non-LGBT women with White LGBT and non-LGBT men in order to explore differences related to gender.

This report is part of a larger series, LGBT Well-Being at the Intersection of Race, which provides the same information for each racial/ethnic minority group in the United States. A final comparative report examines differences across racial groups among LGBT people.

Key Findings

Demographic characteristics

  • Almost 6 million LGBT U.S. adults self-identify as White and LGBT. Among all White adults, 3.7% identify as LGBT.
  • Among White LGBT adults, 24% live in the West, 31% in the South, 21% in the Northeast, and 23% in the Midwest.
  • The White LGBT adult population is younger than the White non-LGBT adult population. Nearly half (45%) of White LGBT adults are under age 35, compared to less than one quarter (22%) of non-LGBT adults.
  • Just over half (53%) of White LGBT adults are women, and 47% are men.
  • Among White adults ages 25 and older, more LGBT than non-LGBT adults have a college education: 43% of White LGBT adults have a college education, compared to 38% of White non-LGBT adults.
  • Overall, White LGBT adults (9%) were less likely to have served in the military than White non-LGBT adults (14%). However, when disaggregated by gender, a lower proportion of White LGBT men (15%) served in the military compared to non-LGBT men (27%), but a higher proportion of White LGBT women (5%) served in the military compared with non-LGBT women (2%).
  • Although White LGBT adults are more likely to report no religious affiliation than White non-LGBT adults, many White LGBT adults are religious (41%). Nineteen percent of White LGBT adults are Protestant, 15% are Roman Catholic, 0.3% are Muslim, and 28% have other religious affiliations.
  • The vast majority of White LGBT adults (85%) and White non-LGBT adults (80%) live in urban areas.
  • White LGBT adults are more likely to live alone than non-LGBT adults: 20% of White LGBT adults live alone, compared to 17% of White non-LGBT adults.
  • Among those who are married or cohabitating, about 40% of White LGBT adults have a same-sex partner. About two-thirds (66%) of White LGBT women have a different-sex partner, compared to 55% of White LGBT men.
  • Fewer White LGBT adults (22%) than non-LGBT adults (31%) are raising children, however this disparity is driven by the large difference in the proportions of White LGBT men (13%) and White non-LGBT men (31%) who are raising children. White LGBT and non-LGBT women are raising children at the same rate (31%).

Note: * indicates that estimates between LGBT and non-LGBT adults are statistically different.

Economic characteristics

  • White LGBT adults are more likely to experience economic insecurity than White non-LGBT adults.
  • About one-quarter (24%) of White LGBT adults live with a household income below $24,000 per year, compared to 16% of White non-LGBT adults.
  • White LGBT adults are almost twice as likely as White non-LGBT adults to be unemployed (9% vs. 5%) and to experience food insecurity (22% vs. 12%).
  • White LGBT adults are more likely to live in low-income households — that is, below 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL) — than White non-LGBT adults (36% vs. 27%). White women, both LGBT and non-LGBT, have higher rates of living in low-income households than men. Over 40% (43%) of White LGBT women and 31% of White non-LGBT women live in low-income households, compared to 28% of White LGBT men and 23% of White non-LGBT men.

Note: * indicates that estimates between LGBT and non-LGBT adults are statistically different.

Mental and physical health

  • More White LGBT adults reported fair or poor health than White non-LGBT adults: 22% of White LGBT adults and 17% of White non-LGBT adults report their health as fair or poor.
  • More than one-third (37%) of White LGBT adults have been diagnosed with depression, compared to 18% of White non-LGBT adults. White LGBT women have the highest rates of depression (44%), compared with White non-LGBT women (22%) and both groups of men.

Note: * indicates that estimates between LGBT and non-LGBT adults are statistically different.

  • White LGBT adults are more likely to engage in high-risk health behaviors than White non-LGBT adults. Among White LGBT adults, 27% report current smoking and 9% report heavy drinking, compared to 18% and 7% of non-LGBT adults, respectively.
  • More White LGBT adults than non-LGBT adults report having mild or high disability, defined by the number of days that they experienced limitations due to poor health in the prior month. Among White adults, 28% reported experiencing mild disability, defined as experiencing limitations because of poor health for 1-14 days in the past month; 12% reported high disability, defined as experiencing limitations because of poor health for 15-30 days in the past month. By comparison, 20% of White non-LGBT adults reported mild disability, and 10% reported high disability.
  • Compared to White non-LGBT adults, White LGBT adults had greater odds of being diagnosed with several serious health conditions, including asthma, diabetes, heart attack, cancer, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. These disparities exist for both White LGBT men and women compared to non-LGBT men and women, with the exception of cancer for White women.

Access to health care

  • White LGBT adults are less likely to have health insurance than White non-LGBT adults: 13% of White LGBT adults are uninsured, compared to 9% of White non-LGBT adults. White LGBT women are twice as likely to be uninsured as White non-LGBT women (14% vs. 7%).
  • White LGBT adults are more likely to have Medicaid as their primary insurance compared to White non-LGBT adults (8% vs. 4%).
  • White LGBT parents are more likely to be enrolled in Medicaid than White non-LGBT parents: Among adults raising children, 14% of White LGBT adults are enrolled in Medicaid, compared to 6% of White non-LGBT adults. Medicaid enrollment is particularly high among women raising children: 16% of White LGBT women and 9% of White non-LGBT women raising children are enrolled in Medicaid, compared to 6% of White LGBT men raising children and 3% of White non-LGBT men raising children.
  • White LGBT women are less likely to have a personal doctor than White non-LGBT women (78% vs. 89%). The same proportion of White LGBT and non-LGBT men have a personal doctor (79%).

Discrimination and stressful events

  • White LGBT adults are more likely than White non-LGBT adults to say they feel unsafe: 14% of White LGBT adults said that they disagreed with the statement “You always feel safe and secure,” compared to 8% of White non-LGBT adults.
  • Many White LGBT adults reported experiences of discrimination and victimization. For example, 68% of White LGBT adults reported having experienced everyday discrimination in the prior year (such as being treated with less courtesy than other people), 42% reported experiencing physical or sexual assault at some point as an adult, and 77% reported experiencing verbal assault or abuse at some point as an adult. Similar percentages of White non-LGBT adults report experiencing discrimination and violence.
  • Many White LGBT adults also reported financial and job-related stress. For example, 54% reported not having had enough money to make ends meet in the prior year, 11% reported being fired or laid off in the prior year, and 26% reported experiencing a major financial crisis in the prior year. Overall, White non-LGBT adults reported similar rates of financial and job-related stress.

Resiliency

  • About half (51%) of White LGB adults and 33% of White transgender adults reported feeling connected to the LGBT community.• Fewer White LGBT adults (11%) reported feeling connected to their racial or ethnic group compared to White non-LGBT adults (21%).
  • About 60% of White LGBT adults reported feeling supported through their social circles.

In addition to presenting national data, we compared White LGBT and non-LGBT adults on several key outcomes by region in the U.S.: West, Northeast, South, and the Midwest. Overall, patterns identified within each region reflect what we found across the U.S. Full details on the regional analyses can be found on page 30 of this report.

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Conron, K.J., Goldberg, S.K. (2020). Adult LGBT Population in the United States. The Williams Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/adult-lgbt-pop-us/

LGBT Demographic Data Interactive. (January 2019). Los Angeles, CA: The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/visualization/lgbt-stats.