Same-Sex Male Spouses Less Similar than Female-Female Spouses

Same-sex married couples are less likely than opposite-sex married couples to have spouses who are the same age and the same race and Hispanic origin, according to the 2021 1-year American Community Survey.

In contrast, same-sex spouses were more likely than opposite-sex spouses to have similar income and education levels.

On average, married couples share more characteristics — such as race and ethnicity, income, and age — than expected by chance. Known as homogamy, it’s the concept that people tend to marry those with characteristics similar to their own.

A previous study of homogamy using decennial data from 1990 and 2000 — before same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States — found that same-sex male cohabiters were the least likely pairing to be homogamous and that opposite-sex married couples were the most likely.

Among those in opposite-sex marriages, 82% had a spouse of the same race compared to 68% of those in same-sex marriages.

This article provides updated estimates on patterns of similarity between spouses in 2021. Due to data limitations, this analysis only covers married couples that include the householder. More information on the characteristics of same-sex couple households is available.

Those in opposite-sex marriages were more likely than those in same-sex marriages to have a spouse with similar social characteristics (age and race/Hispanic origin) (Figure 1).

In 80% of opposite-sex married couples, the spouses were the same race and Hispanic origin compared to only 66% of same-sex married couples.

Similarly, 35% of adults in opposite-sex marriages had spouses less than two years of age apart compared to 24% of those in same-sex married couples.

Spouses in same-sex married couples were more likely to have similar economic characteristics (income and education level) than opposite-sex spouses.

About 21% of same-sex and 18% of opposite-sex couples had spouses with incomes within $10,000 of one another (income for individuals includes eight types of income defined here. It is based on the time of interview even though the amounts are for the past 12 months).

A greater share (57%) of same-sex than opposite-sex (54%) spouses also had the same education level.

<div id="titlecore-4774a17000"

Where this page came from

This page was imported from U.S. Census Bureau. Published by the U.S. Census Bureau and, as a work of the United States government, in the public domain; material credited to others is left out.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.