Limited research has looked at the distribution of multiple categories of children under th e age of  18 residing in same - sex unmarried and same - sex spousal households. This paper specifically  examines the socio - demographic characteristics of same - sex couple households with children,  using the 2009 American Community Survey internal data files.  W e describe the distribution of  type of children (biological, step, adopted, non - related, or a combination of types of children)  across four household forms: married opposite - sex; unmarried opposite - sex; same - sex  unmarried; and same - sex with a spouse.  Then , we discuss the characteristics of the households  containing each type of children.  Our primary results show that a larger percentage of non - related children live in unmarried same - sex compared with married opposite - sex households.   We also find that sam e - sex couples with only adopted or only step children have significantly  higher incomes than both married and unmarried opposite - sex households.