In 2019, same-sex married couples accounted for just 1.0% of married-couple households in the United States.

This small share is partly due to fewer same-sex relationships overall, which are also low among unmarried partners (5.1%).

Lower marriage rates among same-sex households also contribute: 88% of opposite-sex- and 58% of same-sex-couple households were married.

Among same-sex married-couple households, 47% were male couples and 53% were female couples.

How do household income and poverty status differ among these married couples?

• Overall, same-sex married couples had a higher median household income than opposite-sex married couples: $107,200 and $96,930, respectively.
• Same-sex female married couples had a lower median household income than same-sex male married couples: $95,720 and $123,600, respectively.
• Same-sex male married couples had a higher income than opposite-sex married couples but the difference in median household income between opposite-sex and female same-sex married couples was not statistically significant.

As shown in Figure 2, poverty rates between opposite-sex and same-sex married-couple households in 2019 (4.2% and 3.9%, respectively) did not differ significantly. However, there were significant differences when same-sex married couple households were compared by gender:

• Male same-sex married households had a lower poverty rate than opposite-sex married-couple households (2.7% and 4.2% respectively).
• Female same-sex married-couple households had a higher poverty rate (5.0%) than both opposite-sex and male same-sex married-couple households.

The difference in poverty rates by gender may in part be due to differences in family structure, such as the presence of children in the household:

• Some 38.0% of opposite-sex married-couple households had their own children under the age of 18 living with them.
• Approximately 9.3% of male and 26.5% of female same-sex married-couple households had their children living with them.

In 2019, 14% of same-sex married-couple households had a householder age 65 or older, compared to 25% of opposite-sex married couples.

As shown in Figure 3:

• For both age categories, same-sex married couples had a higher median household income than opposite-sex married couples.
• Both male and female same-sex married couples had higher median household incomes than opposite-sex married couples with householders 65 and over.
• Among householders ages 18 to 64, male same-sex married couples had a higher median income and female same-sex married couples had a lower median income than opposite-sex married couples.

In Figure 4:

• For married couples with a householder between ages 18 and 64, the poverty rate was lower for same-sex married-couple households than for opposite-sex married-couple households; the reverse was true for married couples with a householder age 65 and over.
• For both age groups, the poverty rate for female same-sex married couples was higher than for male same-sex married couples.

How do household income and poverty rates between opposite- and same-sex married couples compare at smaller geographic levels? Given the low number of same-sex married couples, we can best answer this question by looking at Census divisions.

As shown in Figure 5:

• Median household income is higher for same-sex married couples than for opposite-sex married couples in the New England, Middle Atlantic, South Atlantic and Pacific divisions.
• In no case is median household income higher for opposite-sex married couples than for same-sex married couples.
• There is no significant difference in median household income across same-sex and opposite-sex married couples in the other divisions.

Figure 6 shows the difference in poverty rates for opposite-sex and same-sex married-couple households.  The poverty rate for same-sex married-couple households is:

• Higher than the poverty rate for opposite-sex married-couple households in the West North Central and East South Central divisions.
• Lower than opposite-sex married-couple households in the West South Central and the Pacific division.
• Not statistically significantly different from opposite-sex married couple households in New England, Middle Atlantic, South Atlantic, East North Central, and Mountain divisions.

The maps in Figures 5 and 6 appear to have disparate results.  However:

• Poverty measures capture the low end of the income distribution, while trends at the median may vary.
• We found similar patterns in a few divisions.
  • Median household income and poverty rates were not significantly different between opposite-sex and same-sex married couples in the East North Central and Mountain divisions.
  • Median household income was higher and poverty rates lower for same-sex married couples in the Pacific division.