What Is the LGBTQIA+ Wage Gap and Who Does It Hit Hardest?

The LGBTQIA+ wage gap is the measurable difference between what LGBTQ workers earn and what the typical worker earns, and it is not felt evenly. On average, LGBTQ employees earn about 89 cents for every dollar the typical U.S. worker takes home. But that average doesn't tell the whole story.

This post shares general information about workplace pay trends and is not legal or financial advice. Wage data varies by study, industry, and region. If you believe you are facing pay discrimination, consider speaking with a qualified employment attorney or an organization that serves the LGBTQIA+ community.

The gap runs deepest for transgender women, nonbinary workers, and LGBTQ people of color, where racial bias and anti-LGBTQ bias overlap in the same paycheck. This is where intersectionality matters, and where our 2025 Shine the Light Study and national research point to the same conclusion.

We will get into what you can do about it, including our Negotiate Your Narrative program, a free salary negotiation training built to help LGBTQ professionals close their own pay gap. First, the data.

Do transgender women earn less than other LGBTQ workers?

Yes, and the gap is one of the widest of any group in the workforce. Transgender women earn approximately 60 cents for every dollar the average worker earns, and transgender men and nonbinary workers earn around 70 cents. For comparison, the broader LGBTQ wage gap sits near 89 cents, so trans women are losing far more ground than the community average suggests.

The dollars add up fast. For the average LGBTQ+ household, the gap means roughly $12,600 in lost income a year. For trans workers specifically, it reaches about $24,800 annually, and across the community it totals an estimated $226 billion in lost wages every year.

But pay is only part of it. The 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey is the most recent national survey of transgender Americans, and it found an unemployment rate of 18 percent among respondents, more than four times the rate for the general population at the time. More than one in three respondents (34%) were living in poverty, and about one in ten said they had been fired, forced to resign, or laid off because of their gender identity.

Why does the gap land hardest on trans women? 

They are navigating two realities at once: anti-transgender bias and the long-standing pay penalty that affects women generally. Those pressures stack. Limited access to gender-affirming healthcare, being pushed out of jobs, and weaker legal protections in many states compound into one of the largest pay gaps measured in any demographic.

How does race affect the LGBTQ wage gap?

Race and LGBTQ identity combine to create gaps larger than either factor alone. This is what intersectionality describes. Kimberlé Crenshaw, the legal scholar who coined the term, has called it "a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides." In pay terms, that collision is measurable.

Among LGBTQ+  women, Black, Native American, and Latina workers earn roughly 85, 75, and 72 cents on the dollar compared with the typical worker, falling further behind their white LGBTQ peers. The poverty numbers tell the same story. Among transgender adults overall, the poverty rate is about 29 percent, well above the roughly 16 percent rate for straight, cisgender adults. For Black and Latine transgender adults, it climbs to 40 and 45 percent.

Discrimination tracks the same lines. In national surveys, more than a third of Black LGBTQ workers report that workplace discrimination has significantly affected their financial wellbeing, a higher share than their white peers.

The picture is not uniform. Asian American and Pacific Islander LGBTQ workers are the one group for which researchers did not find an overall wage gap, though broad averages can hide real disparities within specific communities. Intersectional data is also thin, partly because federal surveys rarely ask about sexual orientation and gender identity, which means the gaps we can measure are likely an undercount.

What is the pay gap for nonbinary workers?

Nonbinary workers earn roughly 70 cents for every dollar the average worker earns, and for some the gap runs deeper. One analysis of national data found that nonbinary people assigned female at birth earned close to 38 percent less than comparable cisgender men, among the steepest income differences across all gender groups studied.

Our 2025 Shine the Light Study adds context the dollar figures miss. Nonbinary employees consistently report the lowest agreement of any group on basic measures of being recognized at work, from restroom access to having their identity respected day to day. When a workplace is not built with you in mind, pay and advancement tend to follow that same pattern.

That may help explain why salary negotiation training has ranked as the number one career resource requested by LGBTQ+ professionals in our study for three years running, and why nearly three in four have never received any negotiation training at all. Of those who did, 89 percent said it ignored the identity challenges they face. 

That gap is the reason we built Negotiate Your Narrative, the first free salary negotiation training built for LGBTQ workers, with a dedicated deep dive for trans and gender-expansive professionals.

How can you advocate for fair pay at work?

"Closing the wage gap starts with knowing your worth and having the tools to advocate for it." - Lo Colby, Miss International Queen USA 2026 and Negotiate Your Narrative Spokesperson

The wage gap is a systemic problem, and closing it fully will take policy change, pay transparency, and employers who take real action. But there are concrete steps that put more power in your hands right now:

• Know your market rate. Research compensation for your role, level, and location before any pay conversation. Objective market data shifts the discussion from how you are perceived to what the work is worth.

• Document your contributions. Keep a running record of revenue generated, projects led, and problems solved. Concrete numbers anchor your ask and are harder to dismiss.

• Watch for patterns. If peers with similar tenure and performance are advancing or earning more, that is worth noting.

• Push for transparency. Support posted salary ranges and regular wage audits where you work. These structural fixes help everyone, and they especially help workers carrying more than one marginalized identity.

• Lean on community. Employee resource groups and external LGBTQIA+ professional networks are not just support, they are access to opportunities and pay information that are not always posted publicly.

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You do not have to name discrimination to negotiate well. In most cases, keeping your ask grounded in market data and documented wins is the strongest approach, because it keeps the focus on your value.

If you are ready to put this into practice, our Negotiate Your Narrative program offers two free courses, including a dedicated track for trans and gender-expansive workers. It is research-backed and covers market research, negotiation frameworks, and how to advocate for yourself in workplaces that were not always designed with you in mind. 

A single successful negotiation can add $5,000 to $15,000 a year, and over a career that one conversation compounds. The pay gap is bigger than any one conversation, but the next conversation is still yours to prepare for.

Resources

• 2025 Shine the Light Study - our annual research on LGBTQIA+ workplace experiences

• The LGBTQ Wage Gap: What the Shine the Light Study Reveals - the foundational post in this series

• How Do I Negotiate My Salary as an LGBTQIA+ Professional? - scripts and steps for your next pay conversation

• Negotiate Your Narrative - our free salary negotiation program built for the LGBTQ community

• Outshine - Free and confidential interview coaching tool, that has over 87 scenerios with a focus on specific challenges for the LGBTQIA+ Community

This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal or financial advice. If you believe you have experienced pay discrimination, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and organizations such as Lambda Legal and the Transgender Law Center can provide guidance and referrals

Tags: LGBTQ Wage Gap, Pay Equity, Transgender Wage Gap, Nonbinary Pay Equity, Intersectionality, LGBTQ People of Color, Shine the Light Study, Salary Negotiation, Workplace Equity, Negotiate Your Narrative