Married same-sex couples were more likely than their unmarried counterparts to have children living in the household.

Among female couple households, 25% of married and 16% of unmarried couples had children in the household in 2023. Among male couples, 9% of married and 3% of unmarried couples had children in the household.

About 21% of female couple households included a child in 2023, compared to just 6% of male couple households.

Other highlights:

• Householders in same-sex married couples were younger on average (49.0) than those in opposite-sex married couples (53.1), but older on average than householders with same-sex unmarried (41.3) and opposite-sex unmarried (40.0) couples.
• Couples with both spouses employed were more common in households with same-sex married couples (60%) than with opposite-sex married couples (50%).
• Although the share of female (64%) and male (65%) couples with both partners employed did not differ significantly, the median household income for female same-sex couples ($104,400) was less than for male same-sex couples ($134,000).
• Both partners had at least a bachelor’s degree in a larger share of same-sex (32%) than opposite-sex (19%) unmarried couple households.
• A larger share of same-sex (31%) than opposite-sex (19%) married couples were interracial.
• The District of Columbia (3%) had the highest percentage of same-sex couple households of any state or state equivalent.

The ACS does not identify all couples living together since it only collects information about each household member’s relationship to the householder, rather than about the relationships among all household members.

“Households with children” refers to those that include the biological, step or adopted child or nonrelative of the householder under 18.

Information on ways the Census Bureau has changed how it collects information about same-sex couples is available here.