Texas Has Second-Largest LGBT Population in U.S., Researchers Find

Texas is the state with the second-largest LGBT population in the U.S., according to a recent analysis by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).

The nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank reviewed U.S. Census Bureau data collected last summer. The data came from Census Bureau surveys which for the first time included questions on gender identity, sexual orientation and gender assigned at birth.

The nonprofit published its data analysis on Tuesday as Pride Month was winding down in the U.S.

According to the PPIC, the data showed Texas with about 1.8 million people who identified as LGBT, placing the state second behind California, which has a population of 2.7 million people who identified as LGBT.

California has the largest overall population in the country with more than 39.5 million people, while Texas has the nation's second-largest overall population with more than 29 million people, according to Census Bureau estimates. Hans Johnson, a PPIC senior fellow, told Newsweek it wasn't entirely surprising to find that Texas, with the second-largest overall population, also had the country's second-largest LGBT population.

"We might expect them to be one-two in terms of their LGBT populations," he said.

But Johnson said Texas' second-place ranking among the most populous states with the greatest shares of LGBT residents was "a little" surprising. California again placed first in regards to this variable, with about 9.1 percent of California adults identifying as LGBT. Texas was second at 8.4 percent, while New York was "a very close third" at 8.2 percent.

"When we look at the share that are LGBT among the top 10 most populated states, I was a little surprised to see Texas come in number two," Johnson said.

Johnson said the Texas findings could be in part because, like in California, there are several large cities across the state.

Texas is "not totally dissimilar to California in terms of having a very large metropolitan area population," Johnson said.

In addition to identifying population differences between states, Johnson said the PPIC also found that young Americans are more likely to identify as LGBT than older Americans. In California specifically, about one in five adults ages 18 to 29 identify as LGBT, a pattern Johnson said is "similar" nationwide with "young adults much, much more likely to identify as LGBT than older adults."

These findings are similar to recent polls that have shown a growing number of young Americans identifying as LGBT. Twice as many American adults identify as LGBT now than 10 years ago, according to a Gallup poll released in February. Though a growing number of American adults believe gender is determined by the sex assigned at birth—six in 10, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll—Pew researchers also found in a survey released earlier this month that about 5 percent of young Americans said their gender now is different from the gender assignment they received at birth.