The surprising number of young adults who identify as nonbinary

Also a surprise: It's national, not regional

Ten years ago, it was rare for people to identify as nonbinary (a gender outside the usual binary of “man” or “woman.”) Now it’s discussed much more frequently, though with a significant generational split. Many Gen Z teens and young adults use terms older generations aren’t familiar with, like gender fluid, demiboy, and enby (the last is the phonetic for “nb,” an abbreviation for nonbinary). Some nonbinary people use “they/them” pronouns, which takes some adjustment for older generations who didn’t grow up using “they/them” to refer to individuals.

How common is it to identify as nonbinary, and is there really a generational difference? To answer this question, we’d ideally want data from a large, nationally representative survey, but — perhaps because nonbinary identities have only recently gained national attention — historically these surveys haven’t asked about being enby.

That started to change in the 2020s, though incompletely. Beginning in July 2021, the Household Pulse Survey administered by the U.S. Census Bureau asked U.S. adults (18 and over), “Do you currently describe yourself as male, female or transgender?” with options of “male,” “female,” “transgender,” and “none of these.”

In Generations, I coded those responding “none of these” as nonbinary. However, that’s admittedly imperfect, as the survey didn’t ask specifically about identifying as nonbinary or using another gender term. In 2021-24, 3.3% of Gen Z adults (born since 1995) chose “none of these” instead of male, female, or transgender, a significantly higher percentage than other generations.

Starting just this August (2024), the Household Pulse Survey changed its gender identity question, replacing “none of these” with “nonbinary/I use a different term.” As far as I know, this is the first large national survey to ask about nonbinary identity. That’s big news.

So what do the numbers look like?

With “nonbinary/I use a different term” included as an option, nearly 7% of Gen Z adults identified as nonbinary. That’s about 1 out of 14. It’s much higher than the previous estimate based on those answering “none of these” – nearly twice as high.

To put this in context: In the average college class of 28 people in their 20s in fall 2024, two students will identify as nonbinary or another gender. With the rate that high, it’s now clear why colleges – and, increasingly, workplaces – encourage people to state their pronouns.

The nonbinary flag.

The number of Gen Z’ers identifying as nonbinary is much higher than older generations. About a third as many Millennials (2.2%) identify as nonbinary, and less than 1% of Gen X’ers or Boomers (see Figure 1). About 13 times more Gen Z’ers identify as nonbinary than Boomers.

Figure 1: Percent identifying as nonbinary, U.S. adults, by generation. Source: Household Pulse Survey. Note: Data collected August to September 2024. n = 103,595.

Since the survey also asks people the sex shown on their birth certificate, it’s possible to find out if nonbinary identify differs depending on birth sex (or sex assigned at birth; I’ll mostly use birth sex as it’s more concise). Among Gen X and Boomers, more of those born male identify as nonbinary; among Millennials the ratio is about equal. But among Gen Z, 45% more people born female identify as nonbinary than those born male (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Percent identifying as nonbinary, by generation and sex at birth. Source: Household Pulse Survey. Note: Data collected August-September, 2024.

There are also differences within the generation based on birth year / age. Identifying as nonbinary is more common among Gen Z’s born more recently (see Figure 3). So there are differences even within the generation of young adults.

Figure 3: Percent of Gen Z young adults identifying as nonbinary, by birth year and birth sex. Source: Household Pulse Survey. Note: Data collected August to September 2024.

Overall, 8.6% of young adults born between 2003 and 2006 (now ages 18 to 21) identify as nonbinary, compared to 6.0% of those born 1995-99 (ages 25 to 29) and 7.5% of those born 2000-2002 (ages 22 to 24). Most strikingly, 10.6% of those born female from 2003 to 2006 identify as nonbinary. That’s nearly 1 out of 9. In a college class of 28 18- to 21-year-olds born female, 3 would identify as nonbinary. These are unusually large differences for a short span of years.

Does identifying as nonbinary differ by region? It’s tempting to guess that young adults in blue states (those that usually vote Democrat) would be more likely to identify as nonbinary. But nope – if anything, it’s the opposite (see Figure 4). Among Gen Z young adults, 7.1% identified as nonbinary in red states (those that usually vote Republican) and 6.6% in blue states. That’s completely driven by the higher rate in red states among those born female.

Figure 4: Percent of Gen Z young adults (ages 18-29) identifying as nonbinary, by state of residence and birth sex. Source: Household Pulse Survey. Note: Data collected August to September 2024. States were categorized as red vs. blue based on the 2020 presidential election.

Similarly, 7.3% of young adults living outside the 15 largest U.S. metropolitan areas identified as nonbinary, compared to 5.9% of those in the large metro areas (see Figure 5). Here, those living outside the largest metro areas were more likely to be nonbinary among both those born male and those born female.

Figure 5: Percent of Gen Z young adults (ages 18-29) identifying as nonbinary, by residence in a large metropolitan area (vs. not) and birth sex. Source: Household Pulse Survey. Note: Data collected August to September 2024. The survey codes for residence in the 15 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. That includes suburbs and does not include other metropolitan areas; thus, this is not a perfect measure of urban vs. rural residence, but it’s the closest we can get with the data available.

Thus, the generational shift toward identifying as nonbinary does not appear to be caused by factors connected to liberal politics or living in or near a large city. If it’s a cultural shift, it’s happening nationally, not regionally, and not just in large liberal cities. That suggests a role for the internet and social media instead of pockets of acceptance or encouragement in schools or neighborhoods.

With slightly higher rates of identifying as nonbinary in red states and outside of the largest metropolitan areas, there may even be some opposing forces at work. Perhaps some young adults in red states and outside large metro areas identify as nonbinary because they feel they can’t, or shouldn’t, identify as transgender. In a previous post, I found that identifying as transgender didn’t differ much in red vs. blue states, but that since 2022 slightly more young adults in blue states than red were identifying as trans. That might be a response to policy shifts around transgender issues in red states.

What other factors might be involved? This question only has data from two months, so we can’t tell if these differences are due to age or to generation. If the differences are due to age, perhaps some young adults will stop identifying as nonbinary as they get older. If that’s true, though, two-thirds of younger adults would need to stop identifying as nonbinary by the time they reached their 30s or early 40s. More than 90% would have to stop being nonbinary by the time they reached the age of Boomers.

The most likely explanation is that some of the difference is due to age, but some of it is due to generation. But it’s anybody’s guess: With nonbinary identities only widely recognized in the last few years, we don’t have any longitudinal studies following people as they age and asking about their gender identity along the way. That’s what we would need to determine if identifying as nonbinary decreases (or increases, or stays the same) as people move through adulthood.

Individualism likely plays into the shift. Gen Z takes Boomer and Gen X gender attitudes – people should be treated equally regardless of gender – and takes the next step: Gender is fluid, malleable, and doesn’t have to be just male or female. You’re an individual? Name your own gender.

I’m sure there are other factors at work as well – and I’d welcome hearing your thoughts about why so many more Gen Z’s identify as nonbinary, and why these numbers are so surprisingly high regardless of living in a liberal vs. a conservative area.