Landmark U.S. transgender survey co-authored by Williams Institute’s Jody Herman is out
Jody Herman, a Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute, has been working as a Co-Principal Investigator of the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) for the past two years. The study was conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) in collaboration with the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, and TransLatin@ Coalition.
The 2022 USTS is a follow-up to the 2015 USTS, which has been a crucial source of information on the experiences of transgender people for researchers, policymakers, educators, advocates, and the general public since it was first published in 2016. Jody and the research team designed the 2022 USTS to offer updated and expanded insights into the experiences of transgender people, including in the areas of education, employment, family life, health care, housing, happiness and life satisfaction, and public accommodations. The survey had 92,329 respondents, making it the largest survey ever conducted in the U.S. to examine the experiences of binary and nonbinary transgender individuals.
The 2022 USTS was expanded to include participation from youth aged 16 and 17, as significant social, political, and legal changes have taken place since the last survey was conducted, affecting the experiences of transgender people in the United States, particularly transgender youth.
On February 7, Early Insights: A Report of the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey was released, co-authored by Jody. The report provides preliminary findings for each topic examined by the survey. Key findings include the following:
- Nearly all respondents (98%) who were currently receiving hormone treatment reported that receiving hormones made them either “a lot more satisfied” (84%) or “a little more satisfied” (14%) with their life.
- Nearly all respondents (97%) who had at least one form of gender-affirming surgery reported that they were either “a lot more satisfied” (88%) or “a little more satisfied” (9%) with their life.
- Nearly half (47%) of respondents had thought about moving to another state because their state government considered or passed laws that target transgender people for unequal treatment (such as banning access to bathrooms, health care, or sports), and 5% had actually moved out of state because of it.
- The top 10 states from which respondents moved because of state laws targeting transgender people for unequal treatment were (in alphabetical order): Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
- Among 16- and 17-year-old respondents who said that some or all of their immediate family knew that they were transgender, 27% said their family members were “supportive,” and 17% said they were “very supportive.”
