Gays, Lesbians Earn Far More Than Median U.S. Household Income

While there are many similarities between lesbian and gay demographics, the mainstream media channels used by the two groups vary in many ways. When it comes to mainstream media choices, gay men tend to read The New York Times, Men’s Health, Entertainment Weekly and GQ. Lesbians choose People, AARP Magazine, O the Oprah Magazine and The New York Times.

Among gay media, gay men chose The Advocate, Out and local gay media, while gay women read The Advocate, Curve and assorted local gay media.

In television, gay men prefer NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox and Bravo (in that order), while lesbians choose NBC, ABC, CBS, Showtime and Fox, according to Community Marketing’s 2007 Gay Consumer Index and 2007 Lesbian Consumer Index.

Among the specific findings:

• 80% of gay men and 79% of lesbians made a purchase with a Visa card in the past month, while 64% of gay men and nearly 56% of lesbians made a purchase with a MasterCard and 36% of gay men and 24% of lesbians made a purchase with an American Express card.
• 61% of gay men and 83% of lesbians have a pet (38% of gay men and 59% of lesbians have dogs, 28% of gay men and 51% of lesbians have cats).
• 85% of gay men and 85% of lesbians said that advertising in gay media favorably influences their decision to purchase products or do business with a company.
• 89% of gay men and 92% of lesbians reported that the way a company treats its gay and lesbian employees impacts their decision to do business with that company, with the majority (52% and 59% respectively) saying this was strongly positive.
• 88% of gay men and 91% of lesbians report that their purchasing decisions are favorably influenced by corporate sponsorship of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) events and participation in LGBT charities.

When it comes to family and careers, the survey found that…

• Gay men and lesbian survey respondents work in a diverse variety of careers, although both groups cited the same top two career fields: medical and education.
• Medical work was at the top of the list with 8% of gay men and 15% of lesbians in this field. Second was education (6% and 9%, respectively) and third was accounting or finance for gay men (6%) and legal or government sector for lesbians (7%).
• 46% of gay men and 65% of lesbians are partnered or live with a significant other; 20% of lesbians have children under the age of 18 living at home, while 5% of gay men do.
• For gay men, the median household income is $83,000 per year (gay singles $62,000; gay couples living together $130,000), almost 80% above the median U.S. household income of $46,326, according to US census data.
• 40% of gay men reported household incomes in excess of $100,000 per year.
• For lesbians, the median household income is $80,000 per year (Lesbian singles $52,000; Lesbian couples living together $96,000)
• 36% of lesbians reported household incomes in excess of $100,000 per year.

A comparison of housing shows both groups very similar. Findings show that…

• 61% of gay men own a home and 36% rent
• 8.4% of gay men own vacation property and 9.3% own other property
• 69% of lesbians own a home and 29% rent
• 10.4% of lesbians own vacation property and 9.8% own other property.

About the study:

The survey was co-produced by Rivendell Media, and sponsored by Absolut. Survey participants were solicited through over 75 widely distributed internet and print publications. These media partners contributed their survey participants into Community Marketing’s own proprietary survey panel developed since 1994, which includes respondents from many other leading event and media companies such as Advocate Magazine, OUT Magazine, Instinct Magazine, Curve Magazine, Gay.com, PlanetOut.com, and GayWired.com.