Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices, and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer employees.
As the national benchmarking tool measuring policies, practices, and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) employees, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index is a primary driving force for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion. Data from the CEI tells the story of over two decades of year-over-year growth in the adoption of these critical policies and practices indicative of employers' commitment to equality.
Corporate Equality Index 2025
Produced by the HRC Foundation
The HRC Foundation's Corporate Equality Index continues to show incredible growth in the number of employers that are committed to implementing LGBTQ+ inclusive policies and practices.
An outstanding 1449 companies actively participated in the CEI 2025 Survey.
In the 2025 CEI, 765 employers achieved a top score of 100 earning the coveted “Equality 100 Award"
72 companies, from nearly every industry, participated in the CEI for the first time this year
Actively participated in the 2025 CEI
Actively participated in the 2025 CEI
All Fortune 500 | Participating | Non-Participating | |
---|---|---|---|
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in U.S. Nondiscrimination Policy | 95% | 99% | 83% |
Spousal and Domestic Partner Benefits | 62% | 82% | 0% |
Transgender-Inclusive Benefits | 72% | 95% | 0% |
Transgender Workplace Best Practices | 60% | 79% | 0% |
Outreach and Engagement to the LGBTQ+ Community | 63% | 83% | 0% |
Corporate Social Responsibility | 70% | 92% | 0% |
Average 2023-2024 CEI Score | 68 | 88 | 4 |
Equitable policies and benefits are critical to LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workforce but alone are not sufficient to support a truly inclusive culture within a workplace. Employers recognize that beyond the letter of a policy, additional programming and educational efforts are necessary.
of CEI-rated employers (1,208 of 1,449 respondents) offer a a robust set of practices (at least three efforts) to support organizational LGBTQ+ diversity competency
of CEI-rated employers (1,416 of 1,449 respondents) have an employee resource group or diversity council that includes LGBTQ+ and allied employees and programming
major businesses have adopted gender transition guidelines to establish best practices in transgender inclusion for managers and teams–up from 974 businesses in the 2023-2024 CEI
CEI-rated businesses have extensive programs to engage with key markets and the communities in which they operate. Public commitment in the CEI is measured through a number of individual engagements with LGBTQ+ community.
The CEI’s Corporate Social Responsibility criteria also ensures that sexual orientation and gender identity protections apply to businesses’ suppliers in their non-discrimination standards, as well as recipients of the businesses’ philanthropic funds.
of CEI-rated businesses (1,044 of 1,449 respondents) met the standard of demonstrating at least five efforts of public commitment to the LGBTQ+ community
of CEI-rated businesses (1,221 of 1,449 respondents) have written giving guidelines that prohibit philanthropic support of non-religious organizations with an explicit policy of discrimination towards LGBTQ+ people
557 leading companies are members of HRC's Business Coalition for the Equality Act, demonstrating their support for federal legislation that would provide the same basic protections to LGBTQ+ people as are provided to other protected groups under federal law.
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