The U.S. Census Bureaus’ American Community Survey provides a yearly snapshot of America that’s used to distribute federal funding to state and local governments. The survey measures thing that are left off the more general census performed every decade.
One of the things that they count is the number of households headed by a same-sex couple. The couples don’t have to be married, but they must live together to be counted.
Related: How many gay men are in open relationships?
“Through the ACS, we know more about jobs and occupations, educational attainment, veterans, whether people own or rent their homes, and other topics,” the Census explains. “Public officials, planners, and entrepreneurs use this information to assess the past and plan the future.”
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The survey found about 980,000 same-sex couples living together. 58% of the couples were married. There were slightly more female couples than male.
Since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, the number of married couples has increased by 70%.
Same-sex couples tend to earn more money than straight couples: approximately $107,000 compared to $97,000.
But in a striking example of the gender gap between wages, male same-sex couples earn over $123,000 on average while female couples averaged less than $88,000.
Of the same-sex couples who responded to the survey, 82% identified as white, 13% were Hispanic, almost 7% identified themselves as Black and almost 4% were Asian. More than 16% of same-sex married households were interracial couples – double the rate for opposite-sex couples.
While Delaware (1.3%), Oregon (1.2%), Massachusetts (1.2%) and Washington State (1.1%) all had high concentration rates of same-sex couples, the leader – by a large margin – is Washington, D.C. 2.4% of households in the nation’s capital are headed by a same-sex couple.
