Research from UCLA indicates that around 2.8 million people in the USA now identify as transgender. The new research represents the largest data analysis of its kind to date from the University of California, Los Angeles’ Williams Institute. The study utilized federal surveys and data from state health agencies to identify the size and demographics of trans populations by state, according to The Guardian.
The Williams Institute is a renowned LGBTQ+ policy research center which has published national trans population data since 2011. The report is part of federal data collection, the likes of which is now being eliminated by the White House. Authors behind the study warn that this one could be the last “portrait of the nation’s trans population for a decade or more as trans people are erased from vital US surveys, including health reports and crime data analyses,” The Guardian writes.
Key findings included:
Roughly 1% of the total U.S. population aged 13 and older identifies as trans, this includes 0.8% of adults and 3.3% of youth aged 13-17.
Those between the ages of 18-24 are significantly more likely to identify as trans (2.72%) than those aged 35 to 64 (0.42%).
Around 33% of all 2.1 million trans adults are trans women, and 34.2% are trans men, while 33.1% are trans non-binary people.
The report also found that trans populations are fairly consistent across all regions of the U.S. However, Minnesota had the highest rate of adults identifying as trans and Hawaii had the highest rate of trans youth. “Trans people live everywhere and are represented in every state,” said Dr. Jody Herman, senior scholar of public policy at the Williams Institute and co-author of the report. “This is a substantial population that has unique concerns and barriers to getting their needs met, and lawmakers need to keep that in mind.”
