How many transgenders have competed in college sports
Executive summary
NCAA leadership and multiple outlets say transgender college athletes are extremely rare — NCAA president Charlie Baker testified there are “fewer than 10” among roughly 530,000–510,000 student‑athletes [1] [2] [3]. Independent tallies of publicly out trans college competitors list dozens (Outsports reported 47 names in 2025), highlighting differences between documented public cases and institutional counts [4].
1. Institutional count vs. publicly out athletes: a sharp contrast
The number most often cited in policy debates comes from NCAA testimony that “fewer than 10” of the roughly 530,000 college athletes are transgender; that figure was repeated by multiple news organizations and referenced in congressional testimony [1] [5] [2]. Those institutional counts appear to reflect what NCAA officials know or track internally; they do not attempt to catalogue every athlete who has ever been publicly out across divisions, schools and years [5] [2].
2. Independent reporting finds many more named cases
Journalistic projects that compile public, named cases count far more trans athletes. Outsports published a list titled “These 47 trans athletes have competed openly in college sports,” cataloguing nearly 50 individuals across sports and years and noting that many competed while out to teammates and coaches [4]. That count tracks public disclosures and historical cases rather than a single institutional reporting channel [4].
3. Why the two tallies diverge — measuring different things
Sources make clear these are different types of measures: the NCAA number reflects what officials told a Senate committee about known, current student‑athletes, while the Outsports list aggregates public, sometimes historical, instances of athletes who competed while openly trans [1] [4]. Academic researchers also warn that locating openly trans athletes through population surveys is “extraordinarily difficult,” undercutting the idea of a single, reliable national headcount [6].
4. Political context has amplified the stakes and reporting
Policy shifts and executive action in early 2025 — including an executive order and the NCAA’s abrupt policy change restricting women’s competition to those assigned female at birth — have made the counts politically consequential, prompting widespread media repetition of the “fewer than 10” figure and renewed scrutiny of named cases such as Lia Thomas [1] [2] [3]. Advocacy groups and opponents cite different numbers to support their positions, using institutional testimony or public rosters selectively [7] [8].
5. Academic research and nonprofit briefs show broader uncertainty
Scholars note methodological limits: studies of openly LGBTQ+ athletes rely on convenience samples and cannot produce a population total; a peer‑reviewed article warns that locating openly trans athletes “is extraordinarily difficult” with standard surveys [6]. Policy briefs (e.g., Williams Institute) focus on potential impacts of bans but do not provide a definitive nationwide headcount, instead estimating larger transgender student populations that could be affected [7].
6. What counts as “competed in college sports”? definitions matter
Counting depends on definitions: is the question about (a) currently enrolled NCAA athletes who identify as transgender, (b) any athlete who ever competed in college while publicly out, or (c) athletes who identify as transgender but did not disclose to their school? Public lists (Outsports) capture (b); NCAA testimony likely referred to (a) as known to administrators [4] [1]. Available sources do not mention a comprehensive dataset that reconciles all definitions.
7. Bottom line and caveats for readers and policymakers
Available reporting shows two competing pictures: institutional testimony asserts transgender college athletes are vanishingly rare (“fewer than 10” among ~510–530k) while independent journalism documents dozens of publicly out competitors over time [1] [4]. The discrepancy reflects measurement differences, privacy limits, and definitional choices; no source provided here offers a single, verifiable national total that reconciles those approaches [6].
Limitations: sources cited here include NCAA testimony, national news reports, one journalistic database of named athletes and academic commentary; available sources do not mention a centralized, public registry that definitively counts every transgender student‑athlete across all U.S. colleges [1] [4] [6].