Census data released Thursday by the government shows California gay and lesbian couples who live in suburban and rural areas are far more likely to be raising children.

The government released 2010 Census statistics on five states today: California, Delaware, Kansas, Pennsylvania and Wyoming. Data for additional states will be released through August.

According to the San Jose Mercy News, roughly 25 percent of California's gay couples are raising children, and couples with kids are more likely to live in suburban or rural areas.

“We're not just some special interest group concentrated in major urban centers,” said Cheryl Dumesnil, who is raising 2 children with her partner Tracie Vickers. “We're actually everywhere, and just trying to live a legally protected and fulfilling life.”

Married dad Joe Horacek told the paper that living in the suburbs was easier when their kids were young: “My son has encountered some negative reactions from kids on Facebook. We don't want to be the ones who put the targets on their back. All kids get picked on for something, but usually it has to do with them. We're adding this extra liability for them fitting in.”

Still, the highest concentrations of households headed by gay couples in the Bay Area can be found in San Francisco, nearly 3 percent. The cities of Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville came in a close second with 2 percent. Los Angeles has the highest number of gay households among California cities.

Bloomberg News noted that the new statistics show growth in households headed by gay couples is outpacing growth in households headed by married straight couples in California.

“The population of homosexuals living together as partners climbed 36.2 percent, and the increase for married heterosexuals was 5.7 percent,” the weekly glossy reported. “Even with the gain, same-sex domestic partners make up just 1 percent of all households in the most-populous state.”

California recognizes gay couples with domestic partnerships. (Roughly 18,000 couples legally married in California before passage of Proposition 8, the state's gay marriage ban.)