Is Fremont least gay city in the Bay Area? Here’s what data shows

Ryan Quakenbush, who has lived with his partner in Fremont since 2019, said he rarely sees another gay couple where he lives. 

Don’t get him wrong. The 31-year-old HR professional said he’s never felt unsafe and described his experience in the city as “neutral to positive.” Still, he conceded, he doesn’t have local LGBTQ+ friends. 

“Honestly, we’re usually the only gay guys or the only gay people in the group,” he said. “Out and about, we’ll actually point out if we think we might see a gay couple or an LGBTQ person, just because it’s so rare.” 

As happy a place as it may be, Fremont has the lowest share of residents who live with a same-sex partner out of any major Bay Area city, according to U.S. Census data. While San Francisco and the broader Bay Area is home to one of the largest and most historic LGBTQ+ communities in the country, not all major Bay Area cities have the same amount of representation. 

The closest East Bay city to Silicon Valley, Fremont is home to more than 200,000 people, a disproportionate number of whom are between the ages of 35 and 44. There are no gay bars in the city, whose vibe is decidedly suburban. 

The U.S. Census doesn’t ask about sexuality, but it does survey the makeup of people living with a partner, both married and unmarried. That count yields what’s undoubtedly an underestimate of gay residents — only 38,000 Bay Area residents live with a same-sex partner — but it does at least point to where gay couples choose to settle down. (Because the number of cohabiting sex-partners is so small, estimates for cities smaller than about 100,000 are less reliable.)

That means that even if Fremont isn’t exactly the least gay city in the Bay Area, it’s certainly the least so among cities for which we have reliable estimates.

Amaya Wooding, president of PFLAG Fremont Tri-Cities, a chapter of the national LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, attributed the city’s low share of same-sex couples to the fact that it’s, well, suburban. Most people who grow up in Fremont eventually leave, she said, and many people who move into the city are heterosexual couples. She added that there are many younger LGBTQ+ people in the area who would not be counted in the data. 

“There’s no shortage of queer kids,” she said. “It’s just, where do the kids go once high school’s over?” 

Wooding, who is 30 and has lived in Fremont her entire life, said her Filipino Catholic grandmother has been nothing but supportive of her identity as a trans and lesbian woman. Her other grandmother, who is of Chinese descent and grew up in the Philippines before immigrating to the U.S., has also been supportive, she said. 

More than 60% of Fremont’s population is Asian, and over half were born outside the U.S., according to 2025 Census data — and research shows that LGBTQ+ members of Asian immigrant communities can face unique challenges.

That being said, Fremont’s relationship to gay life is more nuanced than just its ethnic breakdown, said Jennifer Tran, who teaches ethnic studies at California State University, East Bay. 

“I wouldn’t say that it’s more conservative because there are more immigrants in the neighborhood,” she said. Tran pointed out that Fremont has always been something of a clean-cut place, first as a bedroom community for larger nearby cities and later as a destination for families in the tech industry looking for good schools and proximity to jobs. 

Still, that doesn’t mean the city turns a blind eye to gay life. In an email, the city of Fremont pointed to its initiatives aimed at supporting the LGBTQ+ community, including the Fremont Rainbow Community for senior LGBTQ+ community members and allies, the Pride flag it displays outside City Hall each June and its annual Pride fair, which was established in 2024. Prior to creating its own Pride fair, Fremont even participated in San Francisco’s Pride parade for more than a decade. 

Eddie Green, who has lived in Fremont for 10 years, worked with the city to form the Rainbow Group last year after feeling like he couldn’t find a sense of community. He said his favorite memory was the group’s very first meeting.

“We saw from that very first time how many people were connected and feeling the same kind of things we were — feeling alone, needing the community,” he said. Twice a month on Wednesdays, the group meets and eats lunch together. They also host monthly coffee groups on Saturdays meant to attract a wider range of people, including those who have to work during the week. 

Robin Barber, who has been with Green for 25 years, grew up in Fremont and said the group is slowly growing. At its most recent meeting, it drew more than 20 attendees. 

“We know there’s gay folks here because well, heck, we have LGBTQ people coming to our group,” Barber said. “But it’s sort of the needle in the hay thing … they just don’t seem to be as visible as in other places.” 

Quakenbush added that he enjoys wearing nail polish and flashier outfits, which is more uncommon in Fremont than other parts of the Bay Area. 

“I don’t really mind wearing them here, but I think it’s a little more normal to see more varied fashion and gender expression in places like San Francisco and Berkeley,” Quakenbush said. “Here, you almost never see men with painted nails or people wearing outfits besides pretty standard California heterosexual hair.”

Not so in San Francisco, which ranks third out of the top 50 most populous U.S. cities for the number of same-sex couples living together. Washington, D.C. tops the list, where nearly 9% of residents belong to cohabiting couples of the same sex.