Objectives: To estimate the proportion of US adults who identify as transgender and to compare the demographics of the transgender and nontransgender populations.
Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from states and territories in the 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System that asked about transgender status. The proportion of adults identified as transgender was calculated from affirmative and negative responses (n = 151 456). We analyzed data with a design-adjusted χ2 test. We also explored differences between male-to-female and nontransgender females and female-to-male and nontransgender males.
Results: Transgender individuals made up 0.53% (95% confidence interval = 0.46, 0.61) of the population and were more likely to be non-White (40.0% vs 27.3%) and below the poverty line (26.0% vs 15.5%); as likely to be married (50.5% vs 47.7%), living in a rural area (28.7% vs 22.6%), and employed (54.3% vs 57.7%); and less likely to attend college (35.6% vs 56.6%) compared with nontransgender individuals.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the transgender population is a racially diverse population present across US communities. Inequalities in the education and socioeconomic status have negative implications for the health of the transgender population.