Nearly one million homes are composed of same-sex couples, in U.S.

 

Five years after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages around the U.S., more than a half million households are made up of married same-sex couples, according to figures the U.S. Census Bureau.

Since 2014, the number of married same-sex households has increased by almost 70%, rising to 568,110 couples in 2019. Of the 980,000 same-sex couple households reported in 2019, 58% were married couples and 42% were unmarried partners.

There were slightly more female couple households than male couple households. However, there was a difference between gay and lesbian couples. 

Married women in same-sex households were much more likely to be working than married women in opposite-sex households, but the reverse was true for married men in same-sex households. They were less likely to be working than married men in opposite-sex households.

Results also show almost 15% of same-sex couples had at least one child under age 18, compared to 37.8% of opposite-sex couples. Of the nearly 300,000 children living in a homes with same-sex couples, 66% were children of both partners or spouses, compared to 95% for opposite-sex couples.

Of those who responded to the survey as being in a same-sex married household, 82% identified as white, almost 7% identified themselves as Black and almost 4% were Asian. More than 13% were Hispanic. More than 16% of same-sex married households were interracial couples, double the rate for opposite-sex married couples.