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Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey
Bureau of Labor Statistics > Current Population Survey > Home

Families and marital status

Here you will find labor force, employment, and unemployment statistics by marital status and within families from the Current Population Survey (CPS) as well as information about these data.

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Understanding these data

What you need to know

Marital status

Marital status is determined by asking questions about who lives in a household, how they are related, and whether they are now married, widowed, divorced, separated, or never married.

This information is combined into 6 marital status categories in CPS data:

  1. Married, spouse present
  2. Married, spouse absent
  3. Widowed
  4. Divorced
  5. Separated
  6. Never married

The categories “married, spouse present” and “married, spouse absent” refer to whether one’s spouse is present in the household.

Depending on the publication, these statuses may be aggregated in different ways. For example, the category "separated" often includes people who are "married, spouse absent." How they are aggregated will be explained in the notes at the bottom of each data table.

Families

The Current Population Survey (CPS) defines a family as a group of two or more people (one of whom is the householder) residing together and related by birth, marriage, or adoption. The person designated as the householder is the "reference person" that owns or rents the home and to whom the relationships to all other household members are recorded.

In households with more than one family present, a subfamily is a family that does not include the householder. Subfamilies may be related or unrelated to the householder. A related subfamily is a family living in a household where at least one member is related to the householder. For example, a mother and her infant who live in the home of the mother’s parents are a related subfamily. An unrelated subfamily is a family living in a household where no members are related to the householder. For example, they may include guests, roommates, or resident employees and their relatives.

In CPS publications, subfamily members who are related to the householder are included in statistics about families, whereas unrelated subfamily members are not included in these statistics. Additionally, subfamilies are not included in counts of families.

Families are classified either as married-couple families or as families maintained by women or men without spouses present. Married-couple families refer to opposite-sex and same-sex married couples residing together and any of their family members residing in the household. Families maintained by women or men are made up of householders residing with one or more family members but no spouse of either sex present. Unmarried domestic partners of either sex may or may not be present in the household.

The presence of a family in a household is determined by asking how each household member is related to the householder, with the following response categories:

  • Opposite-sex spouse (husband or wife)
  • Opposite-sex unmarried partner
  • Same-sex spouse (husband or wife)
  • Same-sex unmarried partner
  • Child (includes biological, step, and adopted children)
  • Grandchild
  • Parent (mother or father)
  • Sibling (brother or sister)
  • Other relative (aunt, cousin, nephew, mother-in-law, etc.)
  • Foster child
  • Housemate or roommate
  • Roomer or boarder
  • Other nonrelative

If a household member is not related to the householder, the interviewer asks if they are related to anyone else in the household and, if so, how they are related.

Further discussion on the definitions of families can be found on the subject definitions page of the Census’ website.

Historical comparability

Beginning with 2020 data, estimates of the number of married people include those in either opposite-sex or same-sex marriages. Estimates of the number of married-couple families also include both opposite-sex and same-sex married-couple families. Prior to 2020, estimates of the number of married people included those in opposite-sex marriages only, and the estimates of the number of married-couple families only included opposite-sex married-couple families. This definitional change resulted in a larger estimate of the number of people who are married with a spouse present; the change did not affect the number of people who are married, spouse absent, because data are not collected about spouses living elsewhere. It also resulted in larger estimates of the number of married-couple families and the total number of families.

The marital status and family data presented in the Employment Characteristics of Families news release are annual averages calculated from the basic monthly CPS data. These data are available beginning in 1994. Estimates of families prior to 1994 were produced from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the CPS and typically did not use the employment and unemployment concepts. Most of the earlier data tabulated from ASEC used an “earner” concept—whether or not a family member had earnings during the prior calendar year. Data for non-earners in families did not provide information on their job search and availability for work, the key criteria for being classified as unemployed.

Questions about these data?

How is the race of a family determined?

The race and Hispanic ethnicity of a family is determined by that of the householder. (The household reference person or “householder” is one of the people in whose name the household is owned or rented.)

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Last modified: April 6, 2026