‘Significantly more likely': New data reveals almost three million Americans identify as transgender
According to new data, almost three million Americans now identify with the gender, a figure estimated to be almost double what it was a decade ago and largely down to the almost 1 in 30 young people who are trans.
The figure has emerged amid the Trump administration’s concerted efforts to insist trans people don’t exist.
Almost immediately after his inauguration in January, the US President signed an executive order that essentially barred the government from acknowledging trans people.
That has led to the removal of government funding from trans initiatives, including specific healthcare information on government websites and even the removal of the word “transgender� from the website of a national memorial which partly commemorates trans people.
Trans athletes have been barred from competing and the removal of known trans people from the military, regardless of their service record, is underway.
The new data was released by the University of California Los Angeles’ Williams Institute, which does regular surveys on the demography of trans Americans.
The LGBT issue-focused think tank found 2.8 million people in the US now identify as transgender, equating to around 1 per cent of the country’s total population. The figure is slightly more than in Australia: in 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated 0.9 per cent of Aussies were trans.
Of those Americans who identify as trans, roughly equal numbers are trans men, trans women and non-binary.
Despite the findings, the Williams Institute warned that a White House crackdown on the collection of government data about trans people means it could be some time before an accurate estimate can be done again.
Rise in people identifying as trans
In 2016, the Williams Institute found 0.6 per cent of adults â€' or 1.4 million people â€' were transgender. The rise in that figure could be due to trans people being more open now about their gender identity, as well as the US government in the last decade collecting data from far more people.
Rates of people identifying as transgender significantly increased among younger Americans.
Of 18- to 24-year-olds, 2.7 per cent said they were trans compared to 0.4 per cent of those aged over 35 and 0.3 per cent of those aged 65 and older.
More than 1 in 30 young people trans
Additionally about 724,000 teens aged 13-17 identify as trans, or 3.3 per cent of the Americans in that age range.
“Younger generations are more likely to identify as transgender, and we expect that trend to continue,� Williams Institute senior scholar of public policy and the study’s lead author, Jody Herman, said.
“Youth and young adults are more likely to identify as transgender due to a variety of factors, including a greater willingness among younger individuals to disclose that they identify as transgender on surveys.�
The state with the fewest number of trans people is New Mexico, in the south, accounting for 0.4 per cent of adults. The state with the highest number of trans people is Minnesota in the north, with 1.2 per cent of residents stating it as their gender identity.
Hawaii has the highest number of young people who identify as trans, at 3.4 per cent.
“In prior estimates, there have been no statistically significant differences between age groups for adults in the percentage of those who identify as transgender,� the report states.
“Our current estimates … show that the youngest adult age groups are now significantly more likely to identify as transgender than older age groups.�
The Williams Institute used data from the US Government’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System, the US Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance System (YRBS), and “advanced statistical modelling� to estimate numbers of trans people.
The Trump administration has now removed questions on trans identity from two periodic surveys by the CDC. That means future assessments of numbers of trans Americans may not be as accurate.
“For these data sources to just suddenly disappear, it is a major setback,� Ms Herman said.
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