FACT BRIEF

Has the proportion of Americans identifying as transgender increased in the last decade?

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

By Jessica Doherty

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YES

A 2019 paper by three New York University researchers estimates that the proportion of adults who identify as transgender has increased from about .03% of the U.S. population to about .06% in the last decade. It also finds "a higher proportion of [transgender non-binary] identities among the younger generations."

A 2017 study by UCLA's Williams Institute estimates 0.73% of teens aged 13 to 17 identify as transgender. The study found "the population of individuals who identify as transgender appears similar to the U.S. general population in regard to age"—i.e., 8% of the U.S. general population is 13 to 17 years old and, comparably, 10% of the U.S. transgender population is 13 to 17 years old.

A 2017 Centers for Disease Control survey of select states and school districts found that 1.8% of surveyed high-school students identify as transgender.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

National Library of Medicine: Journal of Translational Andrology and Urology—Trends in transgender identities and gender confirming surgery

UCLA: Williams Institute—Age of individuals who identify as transgender in the US

CDC: Transgender identity and experiences of violence victimization, substance use, suicide risk, and sexual risk behaviors among high school students

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Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.