Families and Living Arrangements

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 families and living arrangements 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 1790 to the present.

Data Tables, Products And Reports

Census 2010
2010 census information on families and living arrangements is available at the national, state and sub-state levels. Use American FactFinder to find available Census 2010 data on families and living arrangements.

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 families and living arrangements is available at the national, state and sub-state levels. Use American FactFinder to find available Census 2000 data on families and living arrangements. For more information about the Census 2000 survey and other data collected from the survey, visit the Census 2000 gateway.

Household and Families: 2000 

• Report [PDF] (C2KBR/01-8)
• Multigenerational Households for the United States, States, and for Puerto Rico: 2000 (PHC-T-17)

Grandparents Living with Grandchildren: 2000 

• Report [PDF] (C2KBR-31)

Married-Couple and Unmarried-Partner Households: 2000 

• Report [PDF] (CENSR-5)
• Hispanic Origin and Race of Coupled Households (PHC-T-19)

Adopted Children and Stepchildren: 2000 

• Report and Tables [PDF] (CENSR-6RV)
• Adopted Children and Stepchildren: 2000 (PHC-T-21R)

Children and the Households They Live In: 2000 

• Report [PDF] (CENSR-14)
• Characteristics of Children Under 18 Years, by Age, for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: 2000 (PHC-T-30)

Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 

• Report [PDF] (CENSR-24)

Census Atlas of the United States (CENSR-29)

Other Technical and Analytical Reports

Fact Sheet: Differences in the Marital Status Estimates from the American Community Survey, Current Population Survey, Survey of Income and Program Participation, and Decennial Census.

Fact Sheet: Differences in the Households and Family Estimates from the American Community Survey, Current Population Survey, Survey of Income and Program Participation, and Decennial Census Participation, and Decennial Census.

Related Papers And Presentations

Roomers and Boarders: 1880-2005 

• Paper [PDF - 115K] , by Melissa Scopilliti and Martin O’Connell. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, New Orleans, April 17-19, 2008.
• Presentation [PPT - 1.9M]

Editing Unmarried Couples in Census Bureau Data 

• Paper [PDF - 59K] , by Martin O’Connell and Gretchen Gooding. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Los Angeles, CA, March 30-April 1, 2006.
• 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 and Martin O'Connell. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Minneapolis, MN, May 1-3, 2003.

Adoptive Single Parents and Their Children: 2000 [PDF - 2.7M] , by Rose M. Kreider. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Minneapolis, MN, May 1-3, 2003.

Changes in the Lives of U.S. Children: 1990-2000 [PDF], by Julia Overturf Johnson, Robert Kominski, Kristin Smith, and Paul Tillman. (Population Division Working Paper 78)

Selected Historical Census Data

Data from previous censuses can be found on the Census of Population and Housing page. Historical Census reports are also available in PDF for 1790-1990.