Two new surveys about the lives of trans people in the United States have been released in the past few months:
- The 2022 U.S. Trans Survey – Early Insights
- The 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People (The Trevor Project)
This week, we’re going to review the preliminary information published by the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey. We’ll plan to write another article as more data and insights are published.
Next week, we’ll dive into the Trevor report.
For most of this article, we are using language directly from the source, with little changes. Here’s your citation, and the report is downloadable at the above link:
- James, S.E., Herman, J.L., Durso, L.E., & Heng-Lehtinen, R. (2024). Early Insights: A Report of the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey. National Center for Transgender Equality, Washington, DC.
The 2022 U.S. Trans Survey Early Insights
This survey was collected in 2022, so the experiences reported are already over a year old. In some cases, things may have gotten better. In some, especially reports of negative experiences due to state laws, they’ve probably gotten worse.
Note: we try to publish frequent updates on happenings within the states we are licensed in. See our Blog Index for links to each state page.
It’s the LARGEST STUDY ever done on the experiences of binary and nonbinary transgender people in the United States.
- 92,329 people replied to the survey
- 84,170 of them were adults
- From all fifty states, and the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, The Northern Marinara Islands, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and U.S. military bases overseas
Gender Identity of Survey Participants
- How respondents reported their gender identity:
- 35% transgender women
- 25% transgender men
- 38% nonbinary people
- 2% crossdressers
- 5% of respondents reported that they were born with a difference of sex development (DSD, intersex)
- 72% reported they were not
- 23% reported that they did not know
Race/Ethnicity and Age of Survey Participants
- How respondents reported their race/ethnicity:
- 1% American Indian or Alaska Native (AIAN)
- 7% Asian/Asian American or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (Asian/NHPI)
- 8% Black/African American
- 14% Latino(a)(x)(e)/Hispanic
- less than 1% Middle Eastern/North African (MENA)
- 56% White
- 13% two or more (Biracial/Multiracial)
- less than 1% none of those listed
- How respondents reported their age
- 43% ages 18 0 24
- 36% ages 25 to 44
- 9% ages 45 to 54
- 6% ages 55 to 64
- 7% over the age of 65
We’re happier when we can be out and about as ourselves and when we have access to care.
- 94% of respondents reported that they were “a lot more satisfied” or “a little more satisfied” with their lives when they lived at least some of the time in a gender other than assigned at birth.
- 3% were “neither more not less satisfied”
- 1% were “a little less satisfied”
- 2% were “a lot less satisfied”
- 98% of respondents who were taking hormones reported that doing so made them either “a lot more satisfied” or “a little more satisfied” with their life. NINETY-EIGHT percent of people taking hormones said that they were more satisfied with their lives while taking hormones!
- 1% were “neither more nor less satisfied:
- less than 1% were “a lot less satisfied”
- 97% of respondents who had at least one form of surgery reported that they were “a lot more satisfied” or “a little more satisfied” with their life
- 1% reported “neither more or less satisfied”
- 1% reported “a little less satisfied”
- less than 1% reported “a lot less satisfied”
Don’t get us wrong, all of us deserve quality care
it’s very rare for any medical treatment to have a 97% or 98% “this made my life better” rate
A QueerDoc philosophical moment: we believe that for some people gender is a destination, and for some, the journey continues, and their body goals may change over time. Treatment for changed goals is STILL gender affirming care.
Impact of Discriminatory Laws
- 47% of respondents had thought about moving to another state because their state considered or passed discriminatory laws.
- 5% had moved.
- Location by state:
- 41% of respondents indicated they lived in the US South
- 23% in the US West
- 19% in the US Northeast
- 17% in the US Midwest
Where Are We Moving From?
- The top ten states we are leaving, in alphabetical order:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Florida
- Georgia
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
Access To Care
There is still a lot of work to do about access. A big chunk of this is discriminatory state laws, but even if we have transgender medical care available, it can be hard to access:
- 28% of us did not see a doctor when we needed to in the last year due to fear of mistreatment.
- Of those of us who did see a health care provider within the last year, 48% of us reported having at least one negative experience. THAT’S HALF and THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE.
- 79% of us did see a doctor or health care provider in the last year.
- 87% of us had health insurance
- 26% of us with insurance had issues with coverage. ALSO UNACCEPTABLE.
Income, Employment, and Housing
- 34% of us reported experiencing poverty
- 18% of us were unemployed
- 11% of us reported that they had been fired, forced to resign, lost a job, or been laid off because of their gender identity or expression
- 30% of us reported experiencing homelessness at some point in our lives
Restrooms
- 4% of us have been denied access to a restroom in the last year
- 6% of us have been verbally harassed, physically attacked, or experienced unwanted sexual contact when accessing or using a restroom in the last year
Harassment and Violence
- 9% of us reported being discriminated against because of gender identity or expression in the last year
- 30% of us reported being verbally harassed
- 39% of us reported being harassed online
- 3% of us reported being physically attacked
ACAB?
- 62% of us reported being “very uncomfortable” or “somewhat uncomfortable” asking for help from the police when needed because of gender identity or expression
Documents
- 48% of us don’t have an identity document with the name we want
- 20% of us have our names on some of our IDs
- 33% have our names on all of our IDs
- 59% of us do not have the gender we want on any ID
- 22% of us reported discriminatory treatment when they have shown an ID that does not match our presentations
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