Same Sex Couples

The Decennial Census occurs every 10 years, in years ending in zero, to count the population and housing units for the entire United States. Its primary purpose is to provide the population counts that determine how seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are apportioned.

Data about same sex couples are available for the U.S., 50 states and the District of Columbia, counties, and subcounty statistical areas (such as zip codes and block groups) from 1990 to the present.

Data Tables, Products and Reports

Census 2010

2010 census information on same sex couples is available at the national, state and sub-state levels. Use American FactFinder to find available Census 2010 data on same sex couples.

Household and Families: 2010 

• Brief [PDF] (C2010BR-14)
• Hispanic Origin and Race of Coupled Households: 2010 (CPH-T-4)
• Appendix Tables to the Households and Families: 2010 Webinar - Interracial and Interethnic Coupled Households [PDF - 215K]

Census 2000

2000 census information on same sex couples is available at the national, state and sub-state levels. Use American Fact Finder to find available Census 2000 data on same sex couples.

For more information about the Census 2000 survey and other data collected from the survey, visit the Census 2000 gateway.

• Married-Couple and Unmarried-Partner Households: 2000 (CENSR-5) [PDF - 502k]
• Hispanic Origin and Race of Coupled Households (PHC-T-19)

1990 Census

1990 census information on families and living arrangements is available at the national, state and sub-state levels. Use American FactFinder to find available Census 1990 data on families and living arrangements.

For more information about the Census 1990 survey and other data collected from the survey, visit the Census 1990 gateway.

Other Technical and Analytical Reports

Same-sex Couple Household Statistics from the 2010 Census 

• Paper [DOC - 1.2M] , by Martin O’Connell and Sarah Feliz. Issued September 2011.
• Detailed Tables [XLS - 182k]
• Figures and Maps [PDF - 2.5M]
• Supplemental Tables [XLS - 69k]

Technical Note on Comparing Statistics on Same-Sex Couple Households between the 2010 Census and the American Community Survey [PDF]

Related Papers and Presentations

Editing Unmarried Couples in Census Bureau Data 

• Working Paper [HTML] [PDF - 59k], by Martin O’Connell and Gretchen Gooding. Issued July 2007.
• Presentation [PPT - 766k]

Interracial Unmarried-Partner Households: How Do They Compare with Interracial Married-Couple Households in Census 2000? [PDF - 2.7M] , by Tavia Simmons & Martin O'Connell. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Minneapolis, MN, May 1-3, 2003.