A poll completed by Gallup in all 50 states and the District of Columbia has found that Washington, D.C. has the highest percentage of openly LGBT people in the nation. Ten percent of Washington, D.C.’s residents identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered.
The lowest percentage comes from North Dakota, where just 1.7 percent of people polled identified as LGBT. But many warn that the poll might not necessarily correctly identify all the LGBT people in a state—just the ones who are willing to be open and honest about it.
The chairman of Fargo, North Dakota’s Human Relations Commission told the Grand Forks Herald Newspaper that those living in more rural areas (of which there are many in the state) might be less than willing to admit they are LGBT. So, while the poll can tell us how many openly LGBT people there might be in a state, it doesn’t necessarily give the whole picture, particularly in more conservative and rural areas.
Last year, Gallup performed a poll of the entire U.S. and found that about 3.5 percent of Americans identified as LGBT. In this new poll, Gallup says all 50 states (not including Washington, D.C.) come within two percentage points of that.
The second highest percentage comes out of Hawaii, at 5.1 percent. The top five is rounded out by Vermont (4.9%), Oregon (4.9%) and Maine (4.8%). The bottom five, from North Dakota up is Montana (2.6%), Mississippi (2.6%), Tennessee (2.6%) and Utah (2.7%).