Statewide Estimation of Racial/Ethnic Populations of Men Who Have Sex with Men in the U.S., Spencer Lieb et al., Public Health Report (2011)

Research and Journal Articles

This study estimated the populations of men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States by region, state, and ethnicity. MSM have a higher rate of HIV infection than other groups and knowing their population and population density by region along with their racial breakdown can help guide HIV/AIDS outreach and advocacy.

Of the over seven million MSM who resided in the U.S. in 2007, 34% resided in the South, 27% in the West, 20% in the Midwest, and 19% in the Northeast. California had the highest total amount of MSM, followed by Texas, Florida and New York. Of the total MSM in the U.S., 71.4% were white, 15.9% were Hispanic, 8.9% were black, and 2.7% were Asia. Native American, Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaskan Native all were less than 1% respectively of the MSM population, with unknown or multiple race/ethnicity individuals making up the remaining 0.6%. The study further lists the racial breakdown of MSM per region.