Census study of same-sex married couples finds similarities to husband-and-wife couples

San Jose Mercury News
June 18, 2009
Marriage — whether you are gay or straight — may be the great common denominator among American households, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau study that offers a first-ever look at the nation's same-sex couples who say they are spouses. Married men and women average about 50 years old, and about four in 10 have kids living at home. The average couple pulls down a little over $90,000 a year and four in five own their home. That demographic portrait doesn't just fit the nation's 56 million husband-and-wife couples. It also closely fits the roughly 340,000 households where two men call themselves husbands, or two women consider themselves wives. With same-sex marriage likely to be legal in as many as six states by Jan. 1, the study, though it may not reflect an accurate number of married same-sex couples, could add another layer to the debate. [Link]