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America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers
The Share of Coupled Households in Your County and the Nation
Despite a decades-long decline, coupled households remained the most common type of U.S. living arrangement in 2020 though shares varied across states and counties.
A recently released data visualization, Coupled Households in the United States: 2017-2021, shows the county-level distribution of four types of coupled households in the United States:
- Opposite-sex married couple households made up the greatest share (86.8%).
- Opposite-sex unmarried partner (or cohabiting) households were the next largest share (11.6%).
- Same-sex married couple households made up 0.9%.
- Same-sex unmarried partner households accounted for the smallest share (0.6%) of coupled households.
In 2019, the American Community Survey added separate categories for same-sex and opposite-sex spouses and unmarried partners, resulting in a more accurate picture of the nation’s coupled households.
While the Census Bureau provides detailed couple-type information in tables available on data.census.gov, this visualization provides the county level information about the prevalence of opposite- and same-sex married- and unmarried-couple households.
Continue reading to learn more about:
- Opposite-sex married couple households
- The increasing share of opposite-sex unmarried partner households
- Same-sex coupled households
Data Viz: Coupled Households by County, 2017-2021
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Share of U.S. Coupled Households Declined in 2020
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