America’s best and worst places to be gay and trans? Check your ZIP code
Where is the best place to be gay in America? Increasingly, it’s a matter of postcode.
While Massachusetts and California are known for advocating supportive policies and rolling out the welcome mat to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer residents, other regions that have started the wave of LGBTQ+ returns, like Arkansas and Tennessee, have a less welcoming reputation.
According to the latest data, today this gap is wider than ever. State LGBTQ+ Business Environment Index Shared exclusively with USA TODAY from Out Leadership.
The index suggests a sharp decline in America’s acceptance of gay people continues, reversing many civil rights advances that have improved the well-being and safety of the LGBTQ+ population, Out Leadership founder and CEO Todd Sears told USA TODAY.
A rainbow banner flies near the U.S. Capitol during the WorldPride International Rally and Freedom March in Washington on June 08, 2025.
The national average score on the index has fallen for four consecutive years. According to Sears, the 10 highest-ranked states held steady or improved, but the lowest-ranked states fell further, and the middle ground is rapidly disappearing.
Typical situation on the 100-point scale of the index Now He said the scores were just 53.1, with 26 states falling below 60.
“When we started this directory eight years ago, our goal was to show Americans issues that were still alive but invisible — HIV criminalization, conversion therapy, where state legislators really stood — because so many people assumed that once marriage equality was passed, it was over. It wasn’t,” Sears said. “What we have documented since then is a real regression.”
Four-year decline in gay and trans equality
For the last eight years of each year, Out Leadership has published the index to map where it ranks. 9% of US adults Those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than heterosexual are least and most welcome. Created as an inclusion reference guide for business leaders, LGBTQ+ individuals quickly began consulting it to find out where they stood. should live and not work.
Over the years, the index has measured factors such as the impact of state government policies and prevailing attitudes, from support for young people and families to health access and safety to anti-discrimination.
This year, Out Leadership added 12 new indicators to measure the impact of anti-LGBTQ+ policies, including restroom access restrictions, pronoun and name use bans, and adult restrictions. gender affirming caresaid Sears.
Out Leadership decided to make the additions after the Supreme Court struck down state conversion therapy bans.
“We have failed to catch up with the forces that have already been hitting LGBTQ+ citizens and their families for the last several years,” Sears said.
As a result, the national average score dropped five points to 60.63 out of 100. And the index shows even greater geographic polarization.
The difference between the most hospitable state, Massachusetts (93.85), and the least hospitable state, Arkansas (28.06), increased from 55 points to 66 points in 2019.
“Something that Americans have taken for granted, that LGBTQ+ people exist and deserve civil rights, is being questioned again,” Sears said.
How do states from California to Arkansas rank?
Out Leadership’s new criteria have prompted some states to take action. California has risen in the rankings for its leadership on pro-LGBTQ+ policy, while Illinois has gained ground on providing protections for access to gender-affirming care, among other measures.
Taking these additional factors into account lowered the rankings of some states. Bathroom bans, health care restrictions and other state measures have left Florida in a difficult position, while Texas has been set back by anti-transgender laws.
Even LGBTQ+-friendly states dropped in the rankings.
Maine, for example, rejected it not because it passed unfriendly laws but because the new indicators rewarded states that enacted protections that it did not. South Dakota, on the other hand, gained five spots for not adopting many of the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that other states have.
In summary, Sears said half of America is increasingly hostile towards the LGBTQ+ population. “The math shows that,” he said.
The Pride flag hangs along with the American flag from the original pole at the Stonewall National Monument in the Greenwich Village area of New York City.
Increase in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment
From pride parades to the federal legalization of same-sex marriage, America’s acceptance of homosexuals He was walking steadily.
Bias against gays decreased from 2007 to 2020 and was on track to disappear entirely, according to a 2022 study by Tessa Charlesworth, an assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business, and Harvard psychologist Mahzarin Banaji.
Then, in the early 2020s, the trend reversed. Anti-gay bias increased by 10 points from 2021 to 2024.
According to Gallup’s measurements, acceptance of LGBTQ people — which was at an all-time high four years ago — has fallen every year since public approval of legal protections for LGBTQ+ people has waned and transgender rights have become a culture war flashpoint.
The political shift has also spilled over into the broadly supportive corporate world, which is tightening Pride Month budgets, sending out fewer rainbow flags, and flying fewer rainbow flags, despite the country’s track record of supporting its LGBTQ+ population. underrated solidarity Between the “go, wake up, it’s broken” backlash against Target and Bud Light, and a push from activists to roll back their LGBTQ+ commitments.
They left their jobs, their employers were proud. Then came DEI’s response.
Prejudice has been increasing in most states since 2020, according to Charlesworth’s research.
About two-thirds of states have seen an increase in implicit biases (automatic judgments about others based on sexual orientation) against homosexuals, he said, and three-quarters have seen an increase in explicit biases (conscious-level attitudes, prejudices, or stereotypes against a person or group).
“Geography definitely plays a role in the amount of overall prejudice against gay, lesbian and transgender people,” Charlesworth told USA TODAY. “There are systematic patterns between places that shape where is more tolerant and accepting versus where is more hostile.”
Even socially progressive cities in conservative states aren’t that safe or welcoming anymore, Sears said. Polls show that many LGBTQ+ residents in red states are considering uprooting their lives or have already fled.
“Over the next 12 to 18 months, companies will be feeling this, and most of them already are,” he said. “A talent flight is underway. LGBTQ people are leaving anti-LGBTQ states, families of trans, non-binary and gay youth are relocating, and employees are returning to the closet. Whatever someone is hiding in the workplace, they’re not bringing their full selves and bringing everything they can to the company. So the economic impact will be felt for a long time.”
The 5 states with the highest rankings for LGBTQ+
1.Massachusetts 93.85
2.New York 93.54
3. Connecticut 91.46
4. Illinois 91.27
5. California 90.11
5 states with the lowest rankings for LGBTQ+
50. Arkansas 28.06
49. Tennessee 30.63
48. South Carolina 31.34
47.Idaho 32.23
46.Florida 33.25
This article first appeared on USA TODAY: Best and worst places for gays? See where your state ranks
