Lesbian, gay, & bisexual poverty and disadvantage in New York City

Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Poverty and Disadvantage in New York City

New York City has one of the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) populations in the country. Using the latest Poverty Tracker data, we are able to look more closely at how LGB New Yorkers are faring with respect to a number of measures of wellbeing such as health, poverty, and hardship. Using Poverty Tracker data, this report attempts to answer the question of how sexual orientation is related to poverty and wellbeing, specifically in New York City. That is, how are those who identify as something other than heterosexual faring in terms of economic wellbeing, and what factors drive differences in rates of poverty, hardship, and health issues among these groups?

Key Findings

  • Overall differences between heterosexual-identified and LGB-identified New Yorkers on measures of poverty and wellbeing are small, and if anything favor the LGB population.
  • However, these overall differences mask the fact that lesbian- and gay-identified New Yorkers appear to be doing better than heterosexual-identified New Yorkers, while bisexual-identified New Yorkers appear to be doing substantially worse.
  • The lesbian- and gay-identified “advantage” can be largely explained by demographic factors – that is, these New Yorkers are older, more educated, and less likely to come from a racial or ethnic minority group. After controlling for these factors, lesbian and gay-identified New Yorkers appear statistically similar to their heterosexual-identified counterparts.
  • The bisexual-identified “disadvantage,” on the other hand, cannot be explained simply by these demographic factors. Understanding the sources of this disadvantage is an important priority for future work.
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A key limitation in these analyses is sample size. As the Poverty Tracker continues to collect data from additional cohorts of New York City residents, we will be better able to address these unanswered questions.

The Poverty Tracker is a longitudinal study of the dynamics of poverty and disadvantage in New York City. It is a joint project of Robin Hood and Columbia University.

Suggested Citation:

Wimer, Christopher, and Matthew Maury. 2018. Lesbian, gay, & bisexual poverty and disadvantage in New York City: A snapshot of wellbeing using Poverty Tracker data. New York: Center on Poverty and Social Policy, Columbia University. 

Published on September 14, 2018