The average LGBTQ+ or intersex household made just 85 cents for every dollar earned by those in other categories in 2024, says a new report from the Center for American Progress.

“Over the course of a year, those 15 lost cents add up, amounting to about $12,600 in lost income per year for the average LGBTQI+ household,” says the CAP report, which was published as a column on CAP’s website Tuesday for LGBTQI+ Equal Pay Awareness Day. “That is more than the average household spends on food and gasoline in an entire year.”

Discrimination may be a reason for the gap, CAP notes. “In 2024, approximately a quarter of LGBTQI+ people reported experiencing discrimination in the workplace, compared with 16 percent of non-LGBTQI+ people,” according to the report. Also, LGBTQI+ people who responded to CAP’s LGBTQI+ Community Survey tended to be younger than non-LGBTQI+ people in the survey, and earnings tend to increase with age.

“With the Trump administration rolling back protections against discrimination and harassment in the workplace, it is likely that this income gap will worsen for most protected classes, including LGBTQI+ people,” the CAP researchers predict. “The intersection of [sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics] and racial demographics further drives up wage gaps for LGBTQI+ households. Among LGBTQI+ people of color, the average household made just 74 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic, non-LGBTQI+ households in 2024.”

Transgender and women’s households also had large wage gaps. “Transgender or nonbinary households made just 70 cents for every dollar made by non-LGBTQI+ households, equating to $24,800 per year in lost income,” the researchers note.

“Among LGBTQI+ women-headed households, the gap is even larger, at 52 percent, amounting to nearly $40,000 in annual losses,” the study adds.

The report’s analysis includes data from a nationally representative group of 3,360 people over age 18, 1,703 of whom identify as LGBTQI+. It was conducted in partnership with nonpartisan research group NORC at the University of Chicago.

“While our data on its own can’t explain the forces that create these wage gaps, we know the intersecting dynamics of sexism, racism, and discrimination likely play a key role,” Sara Estep, economist for the Women’s Initiative at CAP and coauthor of the report, said in a press release. “At the same time, the Trump administration has defanged many of the agencies tasked with enforcing existing nondiscrimination laws and addressing these issues.”

“When enforcement against discrimination is lacking, it harms LGBTQI+ folks and threatens their lifelong economic stability,” added Haley Norris, policy analyst for LGBTQI+ Policy at CAP and coauthor of the column. “People with intersecting marginalized identities experience worse workplace discrimination and tend to suffer larger disparities in household income. The Trump administration’s rollback of nondiscrimination laws is going to hit these people the hardest.”