According to a recent report from the Center for American Progress on homelessness among gay and transgender youth,  research finds that gay and transgender youth are strikingly overrepresented among homeless youth. Although there are no nationally representative surveys that give an accurate count of the population of gay and transgender youth who are homeless, regional studies have been used to estimate that population size. Studies from various jurisdictions over the last decade have found that gay and transgender youth comprise between 7 and 39 percent of the homeless youth population, although they are only thought to make up between 5 to 7 percent of the overall youth population. The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that gay and transgender youth make up about 20 percent of homeless youth nationwide, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has suggested that the number may be as high as 40 percent.

Given that between 1.6 million and 2 million youth experience homelessness each year, and gay and transgender youth make up about 20 percent of these youths, it is estimated that there are about 320,000 to 400,000 gay and transgender youth who experience homelessness at some point each year. It is important to note these numbers predate the start of the current economic recession and likely underestimate the current number of homeless youth.

A survey of youth in New York City found that gay and transgender youth first become homeless very young, with an average age of 14 and four months for gay youth and 13 and five months for transgender youth. That research also suggests that homeless gay and transgender youth are disproportionally youth of color.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/06/pdf/lgbtyouthhomelessness.pdf