LGBTQ people are more likely than straight people to face poverty, food insecurity, and economic hardship:
Poverty: Thirty-two percent of LGBTQ people have incomes of less than $24,000. By comparison, 24 percent of non-LGBTQ people have incomes of less than $24,000. Fifteen percent of transgender people have incomes of less than $10,000, compared to four percent of the general population living at that income level.
Unemployment: LGBTQ people, especially transgender people, are at high risk for unemployment. Forty-four percent of transgender people are unemployed or under-employed.
Food insecurity: LGBTQ people are 6 times more likely than non-LGBTQ people to not have enough money for food for themselves or their families at some point in the last year.
Child poverty: Children raised by same-sex couples are almost twice as likely to be living in poverty. Twenty-three percent of children raised by male same-sex couples are poor, as are 19 percent of children raised by female same-sex couples. By comparison, the poverty rate is 12 percent for children being raised by married opposite-sex couples.
In addition to the above disparities, LGBTQ people are more likely to face homelessness, which is discussed in more detail in the housing and homelessness issue guide.
The economic disadvantages faced by LGBTQ are in part the result of discrimination. Thirty states do not provide explicit protections from discrimination for LGBTQ people in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The income gap between LGBTQ people and straight people is greater in those states with weaker legal protections of LGBTQ rights.