U.S. Has Nearly 1 Million Same-Sex Couple Households

Figures released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau show the United States had 980,000 same-sex couple households in 2019.

Fifty-eight percent of these couples were married, while 42 percent were unmarried partners.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 struck down state laws and constitutional amendments limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. Thursday's report showed that 568,110 gay couples were married in 2019.

A handful of states had legalized same-sex marriage prior to the high court's decision. The data showed that same-sex marriages increased by almost 70 percent since 2014, the year before the court handed down its ruling.

There were slightly more female couple households than male couple households.

Separate data also released Thursday showed that almost 15 percent of same-sex couples had at least one minor child living with them.

The District of Columbia has the highest percentage (2.4%) of same-sex couple households, followed by Delaware (1.3%), Oregon (1.2%), Massachusetts (1.2%), and Washington state (1.1%), according to data from the American Community Survey.