LGBT Percentage Highest in DC, Lowest in North Dakota

Washington, DC, has the highest percentage of people in the U.S. who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

A Gallup poll of all 50 U.S. states and Washington, DC, indicates that 10 percent of the nation's capital's residents say they are LGBT.

Hawaii is second on the list at 5.1 percent, while North Dakota is at the bottom with 1.7 percent.

LGBT percentages for other states include: California at 4.0, New York at 3.8 and Mississippi and Montana, both at 2.6.

Gallup says the poll is the largest single study of the distribution of the LGBT population in the U.S. on record.


The organization says the survey is the first time a study has had a large enough sample size to provide estimates of the LGBT population by state.

Gallup say all the states -- Washington, DC is not a state -- come within two percentage points of the nationwide average of 3.5 percent.

In North Dakota, the chairman of Fargo's Human Relations Commission told the Grand Forks Herald newspaper that he was skeptical about his state's standing in the poll, saying people who live in smaller, rural North Dakota towns might be less likely to be honest about their sexual orientation.