U S C E N S U S B U R E A U

Examining American Household 

Composition: 1990 and 2000

Census 2000 Special Reports

U.S. Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration 

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU 

CENSR-24

Issued August 2005

Helping You Make Informed Decisions

By 

Frank Hobbs 
This report was prepared by Frank Hobbs under the general direction of John F. Long, former Chief, Population Division. 

In the Census Activities and Tabulation Staff of the Population

Division, Marie Pees, Chief, and Janet Wysocki provided significant contributions to the data compilation and understanding of the

available coded data on household relationship. 

Martin O’Connell, Chief, Fertility and Family Statistics Branch and

Campbell Gibson, Demographic Advisor, Population Division, provided vital contributions pertaining to the understanding of decennial household and family data in general, and especially provided

important details concerning census data for 1990 and 2000.

The author is grateful to other Population Division staff for their

contributions to the review of this report. Robert A. Kominski,

Assistant Division Chief, Social and Demographic Statistics, provided

general comments and review. Special thanks are due to 

Marjorie Hanson, Population Division, for the improvements 

added by her review of the complete text of the report. 

James L. Dinwiddie and Jeanne Waples of the Decennial

Management Division provided decennial policy review of this

report. Philip M. Gbur, Decennial Statistical Studies Division, conducted sampling review.

Jan Sweeney, Theodora Forgione, Catherine M. Raymond, and

Barbara Blount, of the Administrative and Customer Services

Division, Walter C. Odom, Chief, provided publication and printing

management, graphics design and composition, and editorial review

for print and electronic media. General direction and project

management were provided by Susan L. Rappa, Chief, Publication

Services Branch.

Acknowledgments
U.S. Department of Commerce

Carlos M. Gutierrez,

Secretary

David A. Sampson,

Acting Deputy Secretary

Economics and Statistics Administration

Kathleen B. Cooper, 

Under Secretary for Economic Affairs

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

Charles Louis Kincannon,

Director

Examining American Household

Composition: 1990 and 2000

CENSR-24

Issued August 2005
Suggested Citation

Hobbs, Frank,

U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000

Special Reports, CENSR-24, 

Examining American Household

Composition: 1990 and 2000, 

U.S. Government Printing Office,

Washington, DC, 

2005.

ECONOMICS

AND STATISTICS

ADMINISTRATION

Economics and Statistics

Administration

Kathleen B. Cooper,

Under Secretary for Economic Affairs

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

Charles Louis Kincannon,

Director

Hermann Habermann,

Deputy Director and Chief Operating

Officer

Alan R. Tupek,

Acting Associate Director for 

Demographic Programs

Vacant,

Chief, Population Division

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free 866-512-1800; DC area 202-512-1800

Fax: 202-512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 iii

Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Relationship Codes and Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Partnership Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 

Generations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 

Sources and Quality of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Table

1. Households by Presence of Specific Relationship 

Codes: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2. Most Common Household Relationship Combinations: 

2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3. Household Composition Types With More Than 

500,000 Households in 2000 and Percent Change by 

Relationship to Householder: 1990–2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

4. Change in Specific Combinations of Nonfamily Households 

by Relationship to Householder: 1990–2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

5. Households by Traditional (Family-Nonfamily) and 

Alternative (Partner-Nonpartner) Typology: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . 14

6. Number and Type of Generations Present by Partnership 

Status of Household: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

7. Multigenerational Households by Generational Composition 

and Partnership Status: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

8. Change in Households by Number of Generations and 

Partnership Status: 1990 and 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Figure

1. Reproduction of the Question on Relationship to 

Householder: 1990 and 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2. Comparison of Relationship Items: 1990 and 2000 . . . . . . . . 4

3. Percent Change in Households by Presence of Specific 

Relationship Codes: 1990–2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

4. Percent Distribution of Specific Relationship Codes by 

Household Type: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Table of Contents
iv Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

5. Percent Change in Combinations of Nonfamily Households by Relationship to 

Householder: 1990–2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

6. Comparison of Traditional and Alternative Household Typologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

7. Distribution of Traditional Household Components Into Alternative Typology: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . 13

8. Percent Distribution of Households by Relationships in the Household and 

Partnership Status: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

9. Number of Households by Partnership Status and Relationships in the Household: 2000 . . . . . . . . 16

10. Percent Change in Number of Households by Partnership Status and Relationships in 

the Household: 1990–2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

11. Percent of Partner Households for Specific Relationships by Presence of Children: 2000 . . . . . . . . 18

12. Percent of Households With Children for Specific Relationships by Presence of Partner: 2000 . . . . 19

13. Percent Distribution of Households by Presence of Partner and Children: 1990 and 2000 . . . . . . . 20

14. Relationship to Householder by Generation: 1990 and 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

15. Households by Number of Generations and Partnership Status: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

16. Percent of Nonpartner Households by Number and Type of Generation in the Household: 2000 . . 25

17. Percent Change in Households by Number of Generations and Partnership Status: 1990–2000 . . . 26

18. Percent Distribution of Households in Each Multigenerational Household Type by 

Partnership Status: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Appendix A. Detailed Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

A-1. Most Common Household Relationship Combinations: 1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

A-2. Most Common Household Relationship Combinations: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

A-3. Household Relationship Combinations With More Than 100,000 Households in 2000 and 

Percent Change: 1990 to 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

A-4. Total Households and Change by Presence of Specific Relationship Codes: 1990 to 2000 . . . . . . . 35

A-5. Number of Households With Specific Relationship Codes by Household Type: 1990 and 2000 . . . . 36

A-6. Households by Partnership Status and Relationship Composition: 1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

A-7. Households by Partnership Status and Relationship Composition: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

A-8. Households With Presence of Specific Relationship Codes by Partnership Status and 

Presence of Children: 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

A-9. Households by Number of Generations, Composition of Generations, and Presence of 

Children and Partner: 1990 and 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Appendix B. Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 1

HIGHLIGHTS

Householders living alone had

become the most common specific

household structure in 2000,

replacing the 1990 combination of

householder, spouse, and natural

and/or adopted children.

Partners 

In 1990 and 2000, about threefourths of households with children contained a partner (spouse

or unmarried partner) of the

householder.

During the 1990s, households

without a partner grew faster 

(20 percent) than households with

a partner (11 percent), and partner

households where children were

the only other members present

grew slower (4 percent) than all

other broad types.

In 2000, most households with a

parent of the householder present

were nonpartner households 

(60 percent).

Three-fourths of households with a

grandchild present also included

children of the householder in

2000.

In 2000, the most common type of

household had neither a partner

nor children (32 percent), followed

by households with a partner and

children (31 percent), households

with a partner but without children

(26 percent), and households with

children but without a partner 

(12 percent). 

Generations 

Most U.S. households (55 percent)

in 2000 were composed of one

generation.

In 2000, the most common type of

multigenerational (3 or more generations) household consisted of

the householder, child, and grandchild generations and accounted

for 62 percent of all multigenerational households. 

About two-thirds of all multigenerational households contained a

grandchild, and about one-third

contained someone from the parent generation.

From 1990 to 2000, two-generation households increased slower

than households with other numbers of generations.

Multigenerational households

increased by 38 percent, from

3.0 million in 1990, to 4.2 million

in 2000. 

The majority of one-generation

households (55 percent) did not

have a partner present. 

The majority of two-generation

households (72 percent) and 

three-or-more-generation households (58 percent) were partner

households.

Examining American Household 

Composition: 1990 and 2000
2 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

INTRODUCTION

In 1880, the U.S. Census Bureau

began asking a question in the

decennial census of population to

determine how each person living

in a household was related to the

head of the household (or the

householder, in current terminology). From this information, all individuals can be tabulated according

to their relationship to the householder, such as spouse, child, etc.,

and households may be classified as

belonging to a particular type, such

as married-couple, nonfamily, etc.

This report uses the latter

approach, classifying households,

and shows tabulations of households within specific individual relationships and certain broader

household-type classifications.

Beginning in the 1990 census, relationship data included separate precoded classifications for unmarried

partner, stepchild, and grandchild.

Census 2000 added more precoded categories (foster child,

adopted child, parent-in-law, childin-law) and obtained more detailed

information about relationship than

did previous censuses (Figure 1).

The new information collected in

the relationship-to-householder

item reflects the growing complexity of American households and

creates an opportunity to enhance

our understanding of how the U.S.

population collectively lives in

households. Since the general

classifications used to group

household types changed minimally over the last half of the 20th

century, the traditional aggregations may not fully reflect this

increased complexity.

In Census 2000, 273.6 million of

the 281.4 million people

enumerated lived in 105.5 million

households and the remaining 

7.8 million people lived in group

quarters, such as correctional institutions, nursing homes, and college

dormitories.1 The data included in

this report are based on special tabulations of households, classified

according to the relationship item

from the 1990 Census of

Population and Census 2000. 

Historically, the terms used to

describe households, the categories listed on the questionnaire,

the method of obtaining responses

on relationship, and the manner of

tabulating and processing the data

all changed during the decades

after relationship data were first

collected. For example, while

large institutional populations

were excluded from the counts of

households, the treatment of

places such as boarding houses

varied. Such changes create some

comparability issues with regard to

Figure 1.

Reproduction of the Question on Relationship to 

Householder: 1990 and 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 Census of Population and Census 2000 questionnaires.

2.

Husband/wife

Natural-born son/daughter

Adopted son/daughter

Stepson/stepdaughter

Brother/sister

Father/mother

Grandchild

Parent-in-law

Roomer, boarder

Housemate, roommate

Unmarried partner

Foster child

Other nonrelative

If NOT RELATED to Person 1:

Other relative — Print

exact relationship.

How is this person related to Person 1? Mark ONE box. ✗

Son-in-law/daughter-in-law

1990

2000

1 See U.S. Census Bureau, 2001a,

Households and Families: 2000, by Tavia

Simmons and Grace O’Neill, Census 2000

Brief (C2KBR/01-8), Washington, DC.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 3

the interpretation and understanding of historical tabulations of

household relationship data.2

(For definitions of the householdrelated terms used throughout this

report, see Appendix B, Glossary.)

This report examines the categories

used to classify households based

on the census question about relationship to the householder.

Traditionally, households have been

classified into two primary categories, family and nonfamily (each

with two main subcategories). This

report explores various new ways

to present household relationship

data, reconfigures household type

classifications, and analyzes how

these alternative groupings

changed in the United States from

1990 to 2000. The report is organized into three main sections; each

section presents data at the national level and examines both Census

2000 data and changes during the

previous decade. 

The report reconfigures the traditional family or nonfamily

classification of households and

creates a partner-nonpartner classification. Partner households

include married-couple households

and unmarried-partner households

For every household, the householder refers to the

person (or one of the people) in whose name the

housing unit is owned or rented (maintained) or, if

there is no such person, any adult member, excluding roomers, boarders, or paid employees. The person who designates himself or herself as the householder is the “reference person” to whom the

relationship of all other household members is

recorded. This designation thus affects the relationship code of each member of a household (e.g. parent, spouse, child) and the classification of all

households by type. The householder is listed as

person 1 on the census questionnaire. All households must, by definition, contain a householder.

Since 1980, if the house was owned or rented jointly by a married couple, the householder could be

either the husband or the wife.

Family and nonfamily households represent the

broadest categories of household type used in census data tabulations. Each of these broad types generally is broken down into two additional types:

family households into married-couple households

and other family households, and nonfamily households into one-person households and other nonfamily households. These traditional broad categories of

household type are closely linked to the relationship

codes from the decennial census questionnaire. The

presence of any of 15 of the 21 relationship codes in

Census 2000 implies, by definition, that the household is a family household. Six can be found in both

family and nonfamily households. Of the more than

786,000 possible combinations of relationships in a

household, the maximum number of nonfamily

household combinations is 32.

The 1990 Census of Population introduced the relationship code unmarried partner, which can occur in

both family and nonfamily households. Building on

1990 and 2000 data on this code, this report creates a new classification using the presence or

absence of a partner (spouse or unmarried partner)

as the basis for configuring household type.

Dividing households in this way allows all relationship codes (other than spouse and unmarried partner) to be present in either a partner or a nonpartner household. Partner households, by definition,

include either a spouse or an unmarried partner.

Nonpartner households, then, are households with

neither a spouse nor an unmarried partner present. 

Finally, the report creates a classification of households by the number of generations living in the

household, where generations are defined solely by a

person’s relationship to the householder. Every

household can be classified according to the number

of generations present, from one through five, by

using the relationship codes of all individuals present

in the household. The five generations identified are

grandparent, parent, householder, child, and grandchild. Only one type of five-generation household is

possible, one that includes each of these generations. Four types of four-generation households can

occur, as can six types of three-generation households, four types of two-generation households, and

one type of one-generation household.

Understanding Data on Relationship and Households

2 This includes, as discussed later, comparability between the household relationship

data collected in 1990 and 2000. For additional historical household trends and information, see U.S. Census Bureau, 2002,

Demographic Trends in the 20th Century, by

Frank Hobbs and Nicole Stoops, Census 2000

Special Reports (CENSR-4), Washington, DC.
4 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

(regardless of gender). In addition,

the report creates a classification

of households by the number of

generations living in the household, where generations are

defined solely on the basis of the

relationship to the householder.

All households are classified by

the number of generations (one

through five).

RELATIONSHIP CODES 

AND COMBINATIONS

Specific relationship code combinations are tallied in this report by

identifying the presence of any of

the 21 relationship codes in Census

2000 (or 19 codes in the sample

data from the 1990 Census of

Population) in each household.

Figure 2 illustrates how each relationship code was collected or

coded in 1990 and 2000. Each

unique combination of codes identifies a different household combination. The presence of more than

one person with the same relationship code in a household is not relevant in these tabulations. A household consisting of a householder,

spouse, and one natural child is

counted as the same combination as

a household consisting of a householder, spouse, and multiple natural

children. In this example, the presence of a fourth relationship code

would create a new combination. 

While family and nonfamily households represent the broadest categories traditionally used in census

household data tabulations, data

from detailed relationship codes in

1990 and 2000 allow a new examination of American household

structure. This report considers

combinations of household relationships not previously analyzed and

illustrates the extensive range of

types. New configurations of

household type groupings might

more effectively capture the variety

of American living arrangements

than currently provided by the

classifications used for the past

several decades. 

All households must, by definition,

contain a householder. All other

relationship codes theoretically

may be found in any combination

within a household.3 Thus, a large

number of unique household

3 In Census 2000, combinations with

both a spouse and an unmarried partner

were not allowed to occur within the same

household. In the 1990 Census of

Population, the sample data included 30,989

households containing both a spouse and an

unmarried partner. Revised editing procedures resulted in the exclusion of this combination from Census 2000 data.

Figure 2.

Comparison of Relationship Items: 1990 and 2000

Note: Relationship items were collected and coded on a 100-percent basis, unless 

otherwise stated.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 Census of Population and Census 

2000 questionnaires.

In 2000, check boxes.

In 1990, combined check box.

In 1990 and 2000, check boxes.

In 2000, check boxes.

In 1990, coded and sample.

In 2000, coded.

In 1990, coded and sample.

In 2000, check boxes.

In 1990, combined check box.

In 1990 and 2000, check boxes.

Relatives

Natural-born son/daughter

Adopted son/daughter

Husband/wife

Stepson/stepdaughter

Brother/sister

Father/mother

Grandchild

Other Relatives

Parent-in-law

Son-in-law/daughter-in-law

Brother-in-law/sister-in-law

Nephew/niece

Grandparent

Uncle/Aunt

Cousin

Nonrelatives

Roomer, boarder

Foster child

Housemate, roommate

Unmarried partner

Other nonrelative
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 5

relationship combinations are theoretically possible. For example,

given the 21 specific household

relationship codes in Census 2000,

a total of more than 786,000 combinations are theoretically possible. However, proportionally very

few of the possible combinations

(3 percent) actually were observed.

In general, the larger the number

of relationship codes, the larger

will be the number of observed

combinations. The observed combinations increased from just over

5,000 in 1990 (using the 19

relationship codes from sample

data) to nearly 25,000 in 2000

with the addition of specific codes

for an adopted child and a 

foster child.4

Householder, spouse, and

natural child were the most

frequently occurring

relationship codes.

Since all households must contain

a householder, this relationship

code occurs in 100 percent of U.S.

households. A slight majority 

(52 percent) of U.S. households

contained a spouse of the householder (Table 1). A natural child of

the householder, the next most frequently occurring relationship, was

found in 41 percent of all households. After these, the percentages dropped steeply and ranged

from 5.2 percent (or 5.5 million) of

all households containing an

unmarried partner (the fourth most

commonly occurring relationship

code) down to 0.1 percent (or

81,000) households with a grandparent of the householder present. 

Table 1.

Households by Presence of Specific Relationship Codes:

2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Relationship

Total

households

Percent of–

Total

households

Households

with 2 or

more

members

Householder . ......................... 105,480,101 100.0 100.0

Spouse . . ............................ 54,493,232 51.7 69.6

Natural child . . . ....................... 42,847,722 40.6 54.8

Unmarried partner ..................... 5,475,768 5.2 7.0

Grandchild ........................... 3,560,932 3.4 4.6

Housemate ........................... 3,371,571 3.2 4.3

Stepchild . ............................ 3,077,726 2.9 3.9

Sibling ............................... 2,504,069 2.4 3.2

Parent ............................... 2,035,905 1.9 2.6

Other nonrelative . . . . .................. 1,754,870 1.7 2.2

Adopted child ......................... 1,567,499 1.5 2.0

Roomer .............................. 1,372,363 1.3 1.8

Nephew/Niece . . ...................... 1,035,796 1.0 1.3

Child-in-law ........................... 850,566 0.8 1.1

Parent-in-law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660,437 0.6 0.8

Sibling-in-law . . ....................... 582,758 0.6 0.7

Other relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371,996 0.4 0.5

Cousin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364,306 0.3 0.5

Foster child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207,248 0.2 0.3

Uncle/Aunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154,150 0.1 0.2

Grandparent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80,847 0.1 0.1

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

4 For further detail on adopted children

in 2000, see U.S. Census Bureau, 2003a,

Adopted Children and Stepchildren: 2000,

by Rose Kreider, Census 2000 Special Report 

(CENSR-6), Washington, DC. 
6 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

Very few relationship

combinations accounted for

the overwhelming majority of

all households.

A handful of the observed combinations accounted for most U.S.

households in 2000. The 20 most

common relationship combinations

(out of more than 786,000 possible

combinations) accounted for 92 percent of all households in the United

States (Table 2).5 Nine specific combinations, each with 1,000,000 or

more households, accounted for 86

percent of all U.S. households.

Several nontraditional specific combinations in this group included:

householder and unmarried partner

(5th, with 2.7 million households),

householder and housemates (6th,

with 2.3 million households), and

householder, unmarried partner, and

natural children (7th, with 1.6 million households). 

Table 2.

Most Common Household Relationship Combinations:

2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Rank and household composition Number of

households Percent

Total, all households (24,722 combinations) . . .......... 105,480,101 100.00

Total, 20 most common relationship combinations . . . . . . . . . . 96,764,872 91.74

1 Living alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,230,075 25.82

Householder living with– . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69,534,797 65.92

2 Spouse + Natural child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23,664,727 22.44

3 Spouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,382,944 21.22

4 Natural child. . . ................................... 8,865,883 8.41

5 Unmarried partner ................................ 2,682,247 2.54

6 Housemate....................................... 2,332,386 2.21

7 Unmarried partner + Natural child................... 1,580,205 1.50

8 Spouse + Natural child + Stepchild.................. 1,197,223 1.14

9 Spouse + Stepchild . . . ............................ 1,105,151 1.05

10 Natural child + Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801,977 0.76

11 Sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737,586 0.70

12 Spouse + Natural child + Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717,150 0.68

13 Roomer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563,169 0.53

14 Parent ........................................... 550,146 0.52

15 Spouse + Adopted child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492,934 0.47

16 Spouse + Natural child + Adopted child. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433,945 0.41

17 Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376,494 0.36

18 Spouse + Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361,385 0.34

19 Other nonrelative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351,010 0.33

20 Spouse + Natural child + Parent ................... 338,235 0.32

Total, remaining 24,702 relationship combinations . . ........ 8,715,229 8.26

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

5 For the specific detailed household relationship combinations with more than

100,000 households in 1990 and 2000, see

Appendix Tables A-1 and A-2, respectively.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 7

Living alone became the most

common unique household

type in 2000.

In 1990, the most common specific household type consisted of a

householder, spouse, and natural

and/or adopted children. Between

1990 and 2000, the number of

such households declined by 

1.7 percent. The number of

householders living alone

increased by 21 percent and outnumbered all other specific types

by 2000 (Table 3).6

Among the most common household types in 2000, four declined

during the 1990s, and all of them

included the relationship code

spouse (Appendix Table A-3).

Among the 19 most common

household types that increased by

more than 50 percent during the

1990s, 10 included other relative

codes that were not available in the

100-percent data in 1990 but were

coded in sample data. Eight included the relationship codes unmarried

partner and/or other nonrelative,

and one type consisted of the

householder with only the code

roomer/boarder/foster child.7

Table 3.

Household Composition Types With More Than

500,000 Households in 2000 and Percent Change

by Relationship to Householder: 1990–2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions in 2000,

see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf and for information on each of these items

and on sampling error in 1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf3td.pdf)

Household composition

Number of

households

Change,

1990 to 2000

1990 2000 Number

Percent

Total, all households ................... 91,993,582 105,480,101 13,486,519 14.7

Living alone ............................ 22,421,114 27,230,075 4,808,961 21.4

Householder living with–

Spouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,172,988 22,382,944 2,209,956 11.0

Spouse + Natural child ................. 25,013,513 24,591,606 -421,907 -1.7

Spouse + Stepchild .................... 1,195,656 1,105,151 -90,505 -7.6

Spouse + Natural child + Stepchild ....... 1,137,426 1,236,813 99,387 8.7

Spouse + Natural child + Grandchild...... 661,610 759,396 97,786 14.8

Natural child .......................... 7,504,178 9,110,735 1,606,557 21.4

Natural child + Grandchild............... 683,994 832,606 148,612 21.7

Sibling ............................... 704,914 737,586 32,672 4.6

Parent ............................... 412,880 550,146 137,266 33.2

Roomer .............................. 322,121 563,169 241,048 74.8

Housemate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,020,598 2,332,386 311,788 15.4

Unmarried partner ..................... 1,647,208 2,682,247 1,035,039 62.8

Unmarried partner + Natural child ........ 859,192 1,620,891 761,699 88.7

Note: Data for 1990 are based on sample tabulations. The natural child category includes

adopted child and the roomer category includes boarder and foster child.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population and

Census 2000.

6 Comparing 1990 and 2000 data by specific relationship combinations required

aggregating combinations in 2000 into the

19 relationship code categories of 1990.

Specific types including adopted child in

2000 were added to the appropriate natural

child classification (since natural or adopted

child was one code in 1990) and specific

types including foster child in 2000 were

added to the appropriate roomer/boarder

classification (since roomer, boarder, or foster child was one code in 1990). 7 The size of the increases in the other

relative combinations based on the 1990

coding of sample data and in the unmarried

partner combinations should be interpreted

with caution, since they may be attributed in

part to data processing issues.
8 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

From 1990 to 2000, the

percentage increases in

households with spouses,

natural and/or adopted

children, and stepchildren

were less than the increase in

total households.

As noted earlier, in order to compare data on relationship for 1990

with 2000, the categories for adopted child and foster child from

Census 2000 must be collapsed

into their appropriate 1990 categories. Among the resulting 19

comparable relationship code categories, the number of households

with an other relative declined during the 1990s (Figure 3 and

Appendix Table A-4), but this

decline almost certainly is an artifact of changes in the collection

and processing of the relationship

item. In 1990, the 100-percent

data provided 12 relationship codes

and the sample data provided 19.

The additional relationship codes all

resulted from expanding the broad

other relative category. Most likely

not coincidentally, households containing the seven additional relationship codes also were the seven

fastest-growing households during

the 1990s in terms of the specific

codes. Adding parent-in-law and

son-in-law/daughter-in-law as precoded check boxes on the Census

2000 questionnaire probably also

contributed to the increases for

these codes. While households

including these seven specific other

relative codes likely increased

between 1990 and 2000, the actual

increase probably was less than the

derived increase based on the

reported data (ranging from 75 percent for uncle/aunt to 152 percent

for child-in-law). 

Since every household has only

one householder, the percentage

change in the number of

householders equals the change in

the number of households. Aside

from the other relative codes with

probable data comparability

issues, households with spouses,

natural and/or adopted children,

or stepchildren were the only three

types to increase slower than the

15 percent national increase in

total households. Among the

codes related to the householder

without data comparability issues,

households with a parent of the

householder present grew the

fastest (33 percent), slightly

exceeding the growth in households with a grandchild of the

householder present (32 percent).

Figure 3.

Percent Change in Households by Presence of 

Specific Relationship Codes: 1990–2000

Note: Changes for households with adopted children and foster children are not 

available since the identification of households with these relationship codes is not 

possible for 1990. Percent change of householders equals percent change of total 

households.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population and 

Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and 

definitions in 2000, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf

and for information on each of these items and on sampling error in 

1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf3td.pdf)

Other relative

Spouse

Natural child (and adopted)

Stepchild

Householder

Housemate

Sibling

Grandchild

Parent

Roomer (and foster child)

Other nonrelative

Unmarried partner

Uncle/Aunt

Parent-in-law

Grandparent

Sibling-in-law

Nephew/Niece

Cousin

Child-in-law 152.3

140.7

105.2

104.9

101.3

98.5

75.1

69.8

62.7

54.5

33.4

31.7

25.0

20.4

14.7

9.7

9.2

5.4

-67.8
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 9

A parent, grandparent,

grandchild, sibling, nephew or

niece, aunt or uncle, and

cousin of the householder

were more likely to be in

other family households than

in married-couple households

in both 1990 and 2000.

The relationship codes used in

decennial censuses are closely tied

to the traditional definitions of

household type. This connection

limits understanding the diversity

of household structures. For

example, of the 21 relationship

codes in Census 2000, 15 of them

can only be found, by definition, in

a family household. The six

remaining codes (including householder) may be found in either a

family or a nonfamily household. 

Of the relationship codes found

exclusively in family households,

spouse, by definition, only occurs

in a married-couple household.

Householder is most commonly

found in married-couple households since this household type

outnumbers other family and nonfamily households. The three child

codes (natural, adopted, or step)

and the three in-law codes (parentin-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law)

occurred more frequently in a

married-couple household than in

an other family household (Figure

4 and Appendix Table A-5). In

Figure 4.

Percent Distribution of Specific Relationship Codes by Household Type: 2000

Note: Percent distribution of householders equals percent distribution of total households.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see 

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Married couple Nonfamily Other family

Unmarried partner

Housemate

Roomer

Other nonrelative

Sibling

Cousin

Parent

Other relative

Uncle/Aunt

Grandparent

Nephew/Niece

Grandchild

Householder

Child-in-law

Foster child

Natural child

Adopted child

Sibling-in-law

Stepchild

Parent-in-law

Spouse 100.0

93.7

87.5

75.0

73.1

67.3

54.3

52.5

51.7

47.6

43.8

41.2

40.0

39.6

36.3

34.9

28.1

26.6

23.5

6.4

6.3

12.5

25.0

26.9

32.7

28.8

47.5

16.4

52.4

56.2

58.8

60.0

60.4

63.7

65.1

71.9

34.7

25.7

18.3

44.2

16.9

31.9

38.6

50.8

75.3

55.8
10 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

contrast, a parent, grandparent,

grandchild, sibling, nephew or

niece, aunt or uncle, and cousin

were more likely to be in other

family households than in 

married-couple households in both

1990 and 2000.8

Among the Census 2000 relationship codes (other than householder)

Table 4.

Change in Specific Combinations of Nonfamily Households by Relationship to

Householder: 1990–2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions for 1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf1.pdf

and for 2000, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Nonfamily household composition

Number of households Change, 1990 to 2000

1990 2000 Number Percent

Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,429,463 33,692,754 6,263,291 22.8

Living alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,580,420 27,230,075 4,649,655 20.6

Living with nonrelatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,849,043 6,462,679 1,613,636 33.3

Unmarried partner alone or with any other nonrelatives . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,972,097 3,053,582 1,081,485 54.8

Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,671,645 2,682,247 1,010,602 60.5

With any other nonrelatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300,452 371,335 70,883 23.6

Housemate alone or with any other nonrelatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,344,113 2,538,574 194,461 8.3

Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,200,608 2,332,386 131,778 6.0

With any other nonrelatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143,505 206,188 62,683 43.7

Roomer and/or Foster child alone or with any other nonrelatives . . . . 449,245 730,093 280,848 62.5

Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366,862 582,268 215,406 58.7

With any other nonrelatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82,383 147,825 65,442 79.4

Other nonrelative alone or with any other nonrelatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471,569 678,059 206,490 43.8

Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231,391 351,010 119,619 51.7

With any other nonrelatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240,178 327,049 86,871 36.2

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population and Census 2000.

8 Households with the code other relative

were slightly more prevalent in marriedcouple households in 1990 but more prevalent in other family households in 2000.

This finding may be confounded by

problems related to the coding of the 1990

sample data on relationship, as discussed

earlier. 
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 11

that could occur in both family and

nonfamily households, housemate

was most commonly found among

nonfamily households, and roomers

and unmarried partners were about

as likely to be included in either a

family or a nonfamily household.

Other nonrelatives were more likely

to be included in family than nonfamily households, but were more

likely to be present in nonfamily

households than married-couple or

other-family households. Foster

child was most likely found in

married-couple households.

From 1990 to 2000, nonfamily

households with 2 or more

members increased faster

than people living alone.

In 1990, four relationship codes

created 16 possible combinations

of nonfamily households. The

addition of the separate code foster child in 2000 resulted in 32

possible nonfamily relationship

code combinations. In 1990, foster children were included within

the category roomer, boarder, or

foster child. 

Overall, nonfamily households grew

more rapidly (23 percent) than the

total number of U.S. households 

(15 percent). Within the two broad

types of nonfamily households,

households that consisted of people living alone grew slower than

nonfamily households with two or

more members (21 percent compared with 33 percent, respectively,

Table 4). The percentage change

from 1990 to 2000 in the number

of households in each comparable

nonfamily relationship code varied

from a low of 8 percent for nonfamily households with a housemate to

63 percent for nonfamily households with a roomer and/or foster

child (Figure 5).9

Figure 5.

Percent Change in Combinations of 

Nonfamily Households by Relationship to 

Householder: 1990–2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population 

and Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and 

definitions for 1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadata/1990stf1td.pdf

and for 2000 see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Other nonrelative

Roomer and/or Foster child

Housemate

Unmarried partner

Living with nonrelatives

Living alone

Total

Specified relationship alone or with 

any other nonrelative

22.8

20.6

33.3

54.8

8.3

62.5

43.8

9 For comparability between 1990 and

2000, the relationship combinations including foster child in 2000 were aggregated to

form the corresponding 1990 relationship

code category—roomer, boarder, or foster

child.
12 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

PARTNERSHIP STATUS

The traditional broad categories of

family and nonfamily household

types are closely linked to the relationship codes from the decennial

census questionnaire, a connection

that can limit understanding the

diversity of household structures.

For example, of the 21 relationship

codes in Census 2000, 15 of them

can only be found, by definition, in

a family household. The six

remaining codes (including householder) may be found in either a

family or a nonfamily household. 

The traditional classifications are

heavily skewed to family

households (24,690 observed

family household combinations

compared with just 32 nonfamily

household combinations in 2000).

In addition, the further breakout of

each broad type is not along a

consistent dimension. Family

households are broken out by

whether or not a spouse is present

(married couple vs. other family),

while nonfamily households are

split by the size of the household 

(1-person vs. other nonfamily).

Moreover, since the introduction of

the relationship code unmarried

partner in the 1990 Census of

Population, unmarried-partner

households can occur in both

family and nonfamily households

depending upon the presence of a

relative of the householder. 

Each of the above factors led to

the creation in this report of a new

split of all households by the presence or absence of a spouse or

unmarried partner. Partner households consist of all households

that contain either a spouse or an

unmarried partner of the householder (whether or not they are

family or nonfamily households)

and all other households are classified as nonpartner households

(again, whether or not they are

family or nonfamily households).

Any relationship code (other than

Figure 6.

Comparison of Traditional and Alternative Household Typologies

Unmarried-partner

household,

relatives present

Other family household,

neither spouse nor 

unmarried partner

present

Unmarried-partner

household,

no relatives present

Other nonfamily

household, no 

unmarried partner

present

Other family

household,

no spouse

present

Married-couple

family

household

Nonfamily

household

Nonpartner

household

Unmarried-partner

household

Married-couple

household

Traditional Alternative

Nonfamily

Family

Nonpartner

Partner
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 13

spouse and unmarried partner) can

occur within either a partner or a

nonpartner household.10 An earlier

Census Bureau study examined the

geographic distribution and

selected characteristics of marriedcouple and unmarried-partner

households, terming the sum “coupled households.”11 Unmarriedpartner households include both

same-sex and opposite-sex partners. Figure 6 illustrates the

comparison of the traditional

breakdown of household type with

the alternative typology. 

This section examines household

counts by an alternative classification: whether or not a partner of

the householder is present in the

household. Each of these broad

types then is broken out by

whether or not a child is present in

the household. This configuration

has the advantage of not directly

linking particular relationship

codes to household type (with the

exception of spouse and unmarried partner, which, by definition,

must be in partner households),

and each type then can be further

split along consistent dimensions,

such as the presence of children or

other characteristics, such as sex

or age of the householder or size

of the household.

Reconfiguring households

results in some family-tononpartner and nonfamily-topartner shifts in classification. 

The introduction of a partner-nonpartner household dichotomy

results in some numerical shifting

of households from the traditional

family-nonfamily dichotomy

(Figure 7). The large majority of

family households become partner

households. Of the 71.8 million

family households in 2000, 

56.9 million are reclassified as

partner households (the 54.5 million married-couple households

plus the 2.4 million unmarriedpartner family households). The

3.1 million unmarried-partner nonfamily households shift to the partner household type. Thus, in this

alternative typology, all 5.5 million

unmarried partner households are

classified within one type (partner

households) in contrast with their

split into both family and nonfamily households according to the

traditional dichotomy. Of the 

33.7 million nonfamily households

Figure 7.

Distribution of Traditional Household Components

Into Alternative Typology: 2000

Traditional Alternative

Other family,

no spouse present

17.3 million

Nonfamily

33.7 million

Family

71.8 million

Nonpartner

45.5 million

Partner

60.0 million

Married-couple

54.5 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000.

Family household, neither spouse 

nor unmarried partner present

14.9 million

Nonfamily household, no unmarried 

partner present

30.6 million

Unmarried-partner household,

relatives present

2.4 million

Unmarried-partner household,

no relatives present

3.1 million

Married-couple

54.5 million

10 As noted earlier, the 1990 Census of

Population included a small number of

households that contained both a spouse

and an unmarried partner. In this report,

whenever tabulations are shown separately

for married-couple and unmarried-partner

households, the households with both of

these relationship codes were tabulated in

the married-couple household category.

11 See U.S. Census Bureau, 2003b,

Married-Couple and Unmarried-Partner

Households: 2000, by Tavia Simmons and

Martin O’Connell, Census 2000 Special

Reports (CENSR-5), Washington, DC.
14 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

in 2000, 30.6 million are classified

as nonpartner households under

the alternative typology.

Table 5 illustrates the classification

of U.S. households by the traditional and the alternative typologies.

According to the traditional classification, 68 percent of households in

2000 were family households and

32 percent were nonfamily households. The alternative typology

shows that 57 percent were partner

households and 43 percent were

nonpartner households. 

At the next level of tabulation, the

presence or absence of children is

not shown in the traditional typology’s Family category and children

cannot be present, by definition, in

the Nonfamily category. In addition, the subcategories within the

two traditional headings are not

disaggregated along a common

dimension (family households by

presence of a spouse versus

nonfamily households by size). In

contrast, under the alternative

typology, the major household

types are disaggregated along a

common dimension (presence of

children) and the subcategories are

consistent and directly comparable

across the two major types. 

Table 5.

Households by Traditional (Family-Nonfamily) and

Alternative (Partner-Nonpartner) Typology: 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see

www.census.gov/ prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Typology Number Percent

TRADITIONAL TYPE

Total . ........................................... 105,480,101 100.0

Family........................................... 71,787,347 68.1

Married couple ................................. 54,493,232 51.7

Other family.................................... 17,294,115 16.4

Nonfamily........................................ 33,692,754 31.9

1 person....................................... 27,230,075 25.8

2 or more persons .............................. 6,462,679 6.1

ALTERNATIVE TYPE

Total . ........................................... 105,480,101 100.0

Partner .......................................... 59,969,000 56.9

With children ................................... 32,967,528 31.3

Without children ................................ 27,001,472 25.6

Nonpartner....................................... 45,511,101 43.1

With children ................................... 12,178,781 11.5

Without children ................................ 33,332,320 31.6

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 15

In 1990 and 2000, a partner of

the householder was present

in about three-fourths of

households with children.

In addition to classifying households by the presence or absence

of a partner of the householder,

broad relationship code classifications may be formed using children, other relatives, and nonrelatives. In both 1990 and 2000,

about three-fourths of all households with children contained a

partner; households with other

relatives were fairly evenly split

between partner and nonpartner

households; and about threefourths of households with nonrelatives did not have a partner present (Figure 8 and Appendix Tables

A-6 and A-7). 

Figure 8.

Percent Distribution of Households by Relationships in the Household 

and Partnership Status: 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see 

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf )

Nonrelatives in household

Other relatives in household

Children with others only

Children only

Children in household

No one else in household

Total

Partner Nonpartner

47.9 52.1

56.9 43.1

73.0 27.0

75.8 24.2

58.3 41.7

49.3 50.7

26.5 73.5
16 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

Of the 105.5 million households in

the United States in 2000, the

three largest types consisted of

either a person living alone 

(27.2 million), with a partner only

(25.1 million), or with a partner

and children only (28.8 million).

Of the remaining 24.4 million

households, 9.2 million were

households with no partner and

children only, 7.2 million contained

children living with others, and 

8.0 million were combinations of

households consisting of other relatives and nonrelatives (Figure 9).

Figure 9.

Number of Households by Partnership Status

and Relationships in the Household: 2000 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

(In millions. For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, 

and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Other relatives, nonrelatives

Children, others

Nonrelatives only

Children only

No one else

Nonrelatives only

Other relatives, nonrelatives

Children, others

No one else

Children only

Partner households

Nonpartner households

28.8

25.1

4.2

1.3

0.6

27.2

9.2

3.4

3.0

2.7
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 17

From 1990 to 2000, partner

households with only children

present grew more slowly

than all other broad types. 

During the 1990s, households

without a partner grew faster 

(20 percent) than households with

a partner (11 percent, Figure 10).

Still, most of the broad types of

households grew within a fairly

narrow range (16 percent to 

27 percent) for both partner and

nonpartner households. The

exception was partner households

with only children present, which

increased by 4 percent during 

the 1990s.

Figure 10.

Percent Change in Number of Households by 

Partnership Status and Relationships in 

the Household: 1990–2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population 

and Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and 

definitions for 1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf1td.pdf 

and for 2000 see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Nonrelatives only

Other relatives only or

with nonrelatives

Children, others

Children only

Living alone

Total

Nonrelatives only

Other relatives only or

with nonrelatives

Children, others

Children only

Partner only

Total

Partner households

Nonpartner households

18.5

11.0

16.4

4.3

26.9

21.5

19.9

20.0

20.6

18.0

23.5

19.4
18 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

A parent of the householder

was more likely to live in a

nonpartner household.

Tabulating households by the presence or absence of a partner and

the presence or absence of children

provides a new perspective

(Appendix Table A-8). In 2000,

looking at the presence of a partner

reveals that most households with

a parent of the householder present

(60 percent) were maintained by a

householder who had no partner.

Similarly, many detailed relationship

codes were about as likely or more

likely to be found in a nonpartner

household as in a partner household (Figure 11). Nearly all households with a parent-in-law or with a

stepchild were included among

partner households. In contrast, 

10 percent of households with

housemates were included among

partner households. 

By definition, 100 percent of households with a spouse or an unmarried

partner lived in a partner household.

In 2000, natural (72 percent), adopted (77 percent), step (96 percent),

and foster (66 percent) children

were much more likely to live in a

partner household. 

Figure 11.

Percent of Partner Households for Specific Relationships by 

Presence of Children: 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see 

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

With children Without children

Other nonrelative

Foster child

Unmarried partner

Housemate

Roomer

Cousin

Uncle/Aunt

Grandparent

Nephew/Niece

Sibling-in-law

Other relative

Child-in-law

Parent-in-law

Grandchild

Parent

Sibling

Stepchild

Adopted child

Natural child

Spouse

Householder 31.3 25.6

56.3 43.7

72.2

76.8

96.0

22.9 10.5

27.7 12.6

38.1 12.3

66.9 29.1

52.1 2.7

28.6 16.6

59.1 20.1

37.2 11.8

36.6 10.1

32.0 13.2

30.8 9.9

19.1 11.4

5.5 4.8

41.6 58.4

43.8 21.9

29.6 20.5

56.9

100.0

72.2

76.8

33.4

40.4

50.4

54.7

45.2

79.2

49.0

46.7

45.2

40.8

30.5

10.3

100.0

65.7

50.1

96.0

96.0
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 19

The majority of households

with children, in-laws, or a

spouse, included a partner

and children.

Households with children (natural,

adopted, or step) were most likely

to contain both a partner and children. Also, a majority of households including in-laws (parent-inlaw, sibling-in-law, or child-in-law)

and households with a spouse

were the partner-child type.

Households with a grandchild were

more likely to have both a partner

and children present (38 percent)

than were households with a

grandparent (37 percent) or with a

parent (28 percent). 

Three-fourths of households

with a grandchild also included

children of the householder.

Between the two types of partner

households (married couple and

unmarried partner) in 2000,

married-couple households were

slightly more likely (56 percent),

and unmarried-partner households

were slightly less likely, to have a

child present in the household 

(42 percent, Figure 12). In threefourths (74 percent) of all households with a grandchild present,

children of the householder were

also present.

Figure 12.

Percent of Households With Children for Specific Relationships by 

Presence of Partner: 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see 

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

With partner Without partner

Other nonrelative

Foster child

Unmarried partner

Housemate

Roomer

Cousin

Uncle/Aunt

Grandparent

Nephew/Niece

Sibling-in-law

Other relative

Child-in-law

Parent-in-law

Grandchild

Parent

Sibling

Stepchild

Adopted child

Natural child

Spouse

Householder 31.3 11.5

56.3

72.2

76.8

96.0

22.9 16.7

27.7 18.0

38.1 36.0

66.9 2.1

52.1 42.3

28.6 23.3

59.1 6.8

37.2 21.5

36.6 18.1

32.0 17.0

30.8 16.9

19.1 16.7

5.5 12.6

41.6 41.6

43.8 19.1

29.6 20.0

100.0

27.8 100.0

23.2

39.6

45.7

74.1

51.9

65.9

58.7

54.8

49.0

47.8

35.8

18.1

100.0

62.9

49.6

4.0

69.0

42.8

56.3

94.3
20 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

The most common type of U.S.

household included neither a

partner nor children. 

Classifying all U.S. households in

2000 by the presence of both a

partner and children reveals that

the most common type of household had neither a partner nor children (32 percent, a large proportion of which were one-person

households). This type was followed by households with both a

partner and children (31 percent),

households with a partner but

without children (26 percent), and

households with children but without a partner (12 percent, 

Figure 13 and Appendix Table A-8). 

Figure 13.

Percent Distribution of Households by Presence of 

Partner and Children: 1990 and 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population 

and Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and 

definitions in 2000, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf

and for information on each of these items and on sampling error in 

1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf3td.pdf)

1990 2000

34.3

31.3

25.4 25.6

10.7 11.5

29.6

31.6

Nonpartner

without children

Nonpartner

and children

Partner

without children

Partner

and children
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 21

GENERATIONS

Every household can be classified

according to the number of generations present, from one through

five, by using the relationship

codes of all individuals present in

the household. Figure 14 shows

how the detailed relationship information was used to classify each

household as to whether or not

particular generations were present.

The five generations identified are

grandparent, parent, householder,

child, and grandchild. Only one

type of five-generation household is

possible, one that includes each of

these generations. Four types of

four-generation households can

occur, as can six types of threegeneration households, four types

of two-generation households, and

one type of one-generation

household.

One-generation households consist

of a person living alone (householder only) or a householder living

with any number of the relationship

codes pertaining to the householder

generation. One-generation households can be either family or nonfamily households. Nonfamily

Figure 14.

Relationship to Householder by Generation: 1990 and 2000

Parent Parent-in-law Aunt, Uncle

Grandparent

Grandchild

Grandparental generation

Parental generation

Householder generation

Childhood generation

Grandchild generation

1

 Since it is not possible to infer a generation from people identified as other relatives, they were implicitly included in the

householder generation. People unrelated to the householder (unmarried partner, housemate, roomer and/or foster child in 1990 

and shown separately in 2000, and other nonrelatives) were also included in the householder generation.

2

 In 1990, this relationship was included in a single, combined classification, "Natural born or adopted child."

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 Census of Population and Census 2000.

Natural-born

child2

Adopted

child2 Stepchild Child-in-law Niece,Nephew

Householder

(also includes spouse, sibling, 

sibling-in-law, cousin)1
22 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

households include a householder

living alone or with one or more of

the following relationship codes

that are classified as the same generation: roomer, boarder; housemate, roommate; unmarried partner; foster child; and other

nonrelative. For the purpose of this

report, nonfamily households were

considered to be one-generation

households.12

Four types of two-generation

households are possible. Since

every household must contain the

householder generation, the four

combinations consist of the householder generation and one of the

other generation types: householder-grandparent, householderparent, householder-child, and

householder-grandchild. 

For the purposes of this report,

households with three or more

generations present are termed

multigenerational households.

From the 5 generations identified,

there are 11 combinations of

multigenerational households,

including 6 types of three-generation households, 4 types of fourgeneration households, and 1 type

of five-generation household.

Most U.S. households 

were composed of only 

one generation. 

In Census 2000, 57.7 million

households (55 percent) consisted

entirely of members of one

generation. Another 43.6 million

households (41 percent) included

people from two generations, 

4.1 million households (3.9 percent) included members from three

generations, 97,000 households

had four generations, and fewer

than 300 had members of all five

generations present. The combined number of multigenerational

(3 or more generations) households totaled 4.2 million, or 

3.9 percent of all U.S. households

(Table 6).13 

Table 6.

Number and Type of Generations Present by Partnership Status of Household: 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Number and type

of household

Number Percent of total households Percent of type

Total Partner Nonpartner Total Partner

Nonpartner Total PartnerNonpartner

Total...................... 105,480,101 59,969,000 45,511,101 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 56.9 43.1

With child generation ..... 45,618,520 33,110,933 12,507,587 43.2 55.2 27.5 100.0 72.6 27.4

With grandchild .......... 3,560,932 1,794,491 1,766,441 3.4 3.0 3.9 100.0 50.4 49.6

With parent generation.... 2,794,231 1,491,328 1,302,903 2.6 2.5 2.9 100.0 53.4 46.6

With grandparent. . . . . . . . . 80,847 37,754 43,093 0.1 0.1 0.1 100.0 46.7 53.3

1-generation ............... 57,686,135 25,994,302 31,691,833 54.7 43.3 69.6 100.0 45.1 54.9

2-generation ............... 43,631,159 31,570,761 12,060,398 41.4 52.6 26.5 100.0 72.4 27.6

With child generation ..... 41,489,587 30,719,707 10,769,880 39.3 51.2 23.7 100.0 74.0 26.0

With grandchild . . . . . . . . . . 862,138 411,801 450,337 0.8 0.7 1.0 100.0 47.8 52.2

With parent generation.... 1,257,037 433,262 823,775 1.2 0.7 1.8 100.0 34.5 65.5

With grandparent. . . . . . . . . 22,397 5,991 16,406 0.02 0.01 0.04 100.0 26.7 73.3

Multigenerational,

3 or more generations . .... 4,162,807 2,403,937 1,758,870 3.9 4.0 3.9 100.0 57.7 42.3

With child generation ..... 4,128,933 2,391,226 1,737,707 3.9 4.0 3.8 100.0 57.9 42.1

With grandchild .......... 2,698,794 1,382,690 1,316,104 2.6 2.3 2.9 100.0 51.2 48.8

With parent generation.... 1,537,194 1,058,066 479,128 1.5 1.8 1.1 100.0 68.8 31.2

With grandparent. . . . . . . . . 58,450 31,763 26,687 0.1 0.1 0.1 100.0 54.3 45.7

3-generation ............. 4,065,319 2,348,195 1,717,124 3.9 3.9 3.8 100.0 57.8 42.2

4-generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97,219 55,613 41,606 0.1 0.1 0.1 100.0 57.2 42.8

5-generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 129 140 0.0003 0.0002 0.0003 100.0 48.0 52.0

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

12 While foster children could be considered as a second generation, they cannot be

separately identified from the 1990 Census

of Population data, and thus were not counted as a second generation to allow comparability between 1990 and 2000. Counting

foster children within the child generation in

Census 2000 would reduce the number of

one-generation households by 66,168, and

correspondingly increase two-generation

households by 58,592, three-generation

households by 7,295, four-generation households by 279, and five-generation households by 2. 

13 An earlier examination of multigenerational households used a more limited definition of generations and did not consider

all possible combinations of multigenerational households. This earlier work (U.S.

Census Bureau, 2001a) identified 3.9 million

multigenerational households in 2000 and

noted that the total represented “a subset of

all possible multigenerational households.”

See also, U.S. Census Bureau, 2001b,

“Multigenerational Households for the United

States, States, and for Puerto Rico: 2000,”

Census 2000 PHC-T-17, available at

<www.census.gov/population/cen2000

/phc-t17.pdf>.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 23

Most one-generation

households did not have a

partner present, while a

partner was present in most

two-generation and three-ormore-generation households.

Each generation type also may be

characterized by the presence or

absence of a partner of the householder. One-generation households were less likely to have a

partner of the householder present

(26.0 million partner households

compared with 31.7 million nonpartner households, or 55 percent

without a partner present). Twogeneration and multigenerational

households were more likely to

have a partner of the householder

present (Figure 15). More than

twice as many two-generation

households had a partner present

(31.6 million) than did not 

(12.1 million), and among multigenerational households, 2.4 million were partner households and

1.8 million were nonpartner households. In proportional terms, 

72 percent of two-generation

households and 58 percent of

three-or-more-generation households contained a partner of the

householder.

Figure 15.

Households by Number of Generations and 

Partnership Status: 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population 

and Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and 

definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Partner Nonpartner

3 or more generations

2 generations

1 generation

25,994,302

31,691,833

31,570,761

12,060,398

2,403,937

1,758,870
24 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

Nearly two-thirds (65 percent)

of all multigenerational

households contained a

grandchild, while more than

one-third (37 percent)

contained someone from the

parent generation.

Of the possible types of multigenerational households, the most

common was a household including members of the householder,

child, and grandchild generations,

accounting for 62 percent of all

multigenerational households

(Table 7). The least common type

was the five-generation household,

totaling 269 and representing 

0.01 percent of all multigenerational households.

All multigenerational households

contain someone from the householder generation, since every

household contains a householder

by definition. In 2000, nearly

every multigenerational household

contained the child generation. In

contrast, 1 percent of all

multigenerational households contained a grandparent of the householder.14 About two-thirds of all

multigenerational households contained a grandchild and about onethird contained at least one person

from the parent generation.

Table 7.

Multigenerational Households by Generational Composition and Partnership Status: 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Number and generational composition

of household

Number Percent

Total Partner

Nonpartner Total PartnerNonpartner

Total multigenerational, 3 or more generations. . . ............... 4,162,807 2,403,937 1,758,870 100.0 100.0 100.0

With child generation ......................................... 4,128,933 2,391,226 1,737,707 99.2 99.5 98.8

With grandchild .............................................. 2,698,794 1,382,690 1,316,104 64.8 57.5 74.8

With parent generation. . ...................................... 1,537,194 1,058,066 479,128 36.9 44.0 27.2

With grandparent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58,450 31,763 26,687 1.4 1.3 1.5

3-generation ................................................... 4,065,319 2,348,195 1,717,124 97.7 97.7 97.6

Householder Child Grandchild . . . ..................... 2,588,767 1,320,901 1,267,866 62.2 54.9 72.1

Householder Parent Child . . ........................... 1,407,780 990,615 417,165 33.8 41.2 23.7

Householder Grandparent Child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34,967 23,987 10,980 0.8 1.0 0.6

Householder Parent Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,790 10,946 10,844 0.5 0.5 0.6

Householder Grandparent Parent............................ 11,717 1,629 10,088 0.3 0.1 0.6

Householder Grandparent Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 117 181 0.007 0.005 0.010

4-generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97,219 55,613 41,606 2.3 2.3 2.4

Householder Parent Child Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86,020 49,712 36,308 2.1 2.1 2.1

Householder Grandparent Parent Child . . ................... 9,549 5,016 4,533 0.2 0.2 0.3

Householder Grandparent Child Grandchild . ............... 1,581 866 715 0.04 0.04 0.04

Householder Grandparent Parent Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 19 50 0.002 0.001 0.003

5-generation

Householder Grandparent Parent Child Grandchild . . . 269 129 140 0.01 0.01 0.01

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

14 Grandparent pertains to the person’s

relationship to the householder, as is true

for all relationship codes. Thus, while a

householder’s parent may be present in a

household with the householder’s children,

this person is identified as the householder’s

parent, and not as the child’s grandparent.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 25

In 2000, a partner of the

householder was not present

in the majority of twogeneration households

including a parent,

grandparent, or grandchild.

Overall, two-generation households

were more likely to have a partner

present. Among the four types of

two-generation households, partners were more likely to be present

only in the householder-child

household. Among households

where the two generations consisted of householder-grandparent,

householder-parent, or householdergrandchild, the absence of a partner in the household was more

common (Figure 16). In contrast,

for the three-or-more-generation

household types including a grandparent, parent, child, or grandchild,

a partner was more likely also to be

present in the household.

Figure 16.

Percent of Nonpartner Households by Number and 

Type of Generation in the Household: 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and 

definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

73.3

65.5

26.0

52.2

45.7

31.2

42.1

48.8

GrandchildGrand- Parent Child

parent

GrandchildGrand- Parent Child

parent

Type of generation present in household

2-generation household 3-or-more generation household
26 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

Two-generation households

increased slower than

households with other

numbers of generations. 

From 1990 to 2000, two-generation households increased slower

than households of one generation

or three or more generations

(Figure 17). This finding varied

between partner and nonpartner

households and by whether the

partners were married. Among

nonpartner households, onegeneration households increased

slower (22 percent) than twogeneration (24 percent) or three-ormore-generation (38 percent)

households. Two-generation

households increased the slowest

for partner households. Within

partner households, the one-generation type increased the slowest

when the partner was not married

to the householder, while those of

two-generations increased the

slowest when the partner was

married (Appendix Table A-9).

The primary factor contributing to

the slower percentage increase in

the number of two-generation

households during the 1990s was

the absolute decline in the number

of married-couple householder-child

households. The specific twogeneration type householder-child

increased by 2.0 million for nonpartner households and by 1.0 million for unmarried-partner households, and declined by 0.2 million

for married-couple households. 

Figure 17.

Percent Change in Households by Number of 

Generations and Partnership Status: 1990–2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population 

and Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and 

definitions in 2000, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf and 

for information on each of these items and on sampling error in 1990, 

see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf3td.pdf)

1 2 3+ 1 2 3+ 1 2 3+

Number of generations

Total households Partner households Nonpartner households

18.4

8.4

38.2

14.2

3.4

38.1

22.0

24.1

38.3
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 27

Multigenerational households

grew from 3.0 million in 1990

to 4.2 million in 2000.

A total of 3.0 million households

can be identified as containing

three or more generations in 1990

(Table 8). This number increased

to 4.2 million in 2000, and included 2.4 million partner households

and 1.8 million households with

no spouse or partner present. The

increase of 38 percent during the

1990s (1.2 million households)

exceeded the 15 percent increase

in the total number of U.S. households. As a proportion of all

households, the percentage with

three or more generations

increased from 3.3 percent to 

3.9 percent from 1990 to 2000. 

Table 8.

Change in Households by Number of Generations and Partnership Status: 1990 and 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions in 2000, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf and

for information on each of these items and on sampling error in 1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf3td.pdf)

Number of

generations

1990 2000

Change, 1990 to 2000

Numerical Percent

Total Partner

Nonpartner Total PartnerNonpartner Total PartnerNonpartner TotalPartner

Nonpartner

Total

households . . . 91,993,582 55,027,930 36,965,652 105,480,101 59,969,000 45,511,101 13,486,519 4,941,070 8,545,449 14.7 9.0 23.1

1 generation . . . . 48,739,896 22,764,044 25,975,852 57,686,135 25,994,302 31,691,833 8,946,239 3,230,258 5,715,981 18.4 14.2 22.0

2 generations. . . . 40,241,541 30,523,410 9,718,131 43,631,159 31,570,761 12,060,398 3,389,618 1,047,351 2,342,267 8.4 3.4 24.1

3 or more

generations . . . . 3,012,145 1,740,476 1,271,669 4,162,807 2,403,937 1,758,870 1,150,662 663,461 487,201 38.2 38.1 38.3

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population and Census 2000.
28 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

In 2000, the householderparent-child type was the

most likely to be a partner

household among the

multigenerational types, while

the householder-grandparentparent type was most likely to

be a nonpartner household.

Each type of multigenerational

household may be classified by the

presence or absence of a partner

of the householder. The most

commonly observed multigenerational type, householder-childgrandchild, was almost as likely to

have a partner as not, 51 percent

compared with 49 percent 

(Figure 18). The second most

commonly observed type, householder-parent-child, was also the

type most likely to have a partner

present in the household (70 percent). The householder-grandparent-parent household type was

least likely to have a partner present in the household: 14 percent.

Figure 18.

Percent Distribution of Households in Each Multigenerational Household Type 

by Partnership Status: 2000

Note: The generations pertaining to the abbreviations shown in this figure are as follows: H = Householder; Gpar = Grandparent; 

Par = Parent; Ch = Child; and GCh = Grandchild.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see 

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

H-Gpar-Par-Ch-GCh

H-Par-Ch-GCh

H-Gpar-Ch-GCh

H-Gpar-Par-GCh

H-Gpar-Par-Ch

H-Ch-GCh

H-Par-GCh

H-Par-Ch

H-Gpar-GCh

H-Gpar-Ch

H-Gpar-Par

Partner Nonpartner

13.9 86.1

68.6 31.4

39.3 60.7

70.4 29.6

50.2 49.8

51.0 49.0

52.5 47.5

27.5 72.5

54.8 45.2

57.8 42.2

48.0 52.0
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 29

SUMMARY AND

CONCLUSIONS

This report used data from the

relationship item from the 1990

and 2000 decennial censuses of

population to examine various

configurations of households in

the United States. More detailed

coding of the relationship item

allowed increased combinations of

specific household codes to be

identified. The 21 relationship

codes in Census 2000 produced

24,722 unique combinations of

relationship codes. Even so, relatively few combinations accounted

for the majority of households.

Twenty combinations of relationship codes accounted for 92 percent of all households, and 9 combinations (those with over 1

million households) accounted for

86 percent of all households. 

Many relationships that were separately coded from write-in responses in 1990 under the other relative

option grew faster than most other

relationship codes. At the same

time, the other relative classification declined considerably during

the decade. Since this finding suggests inconsistencies in the processing of the data on relationship,

comparisons of relationship data

based on the changes in these

individual relationship codes

between 1990 and 2000 should be

made with caution.

Detailed analysis of unique relationship combinations revealed

some new findings. For example,

data on the newly available (in

Census 2000) relationship code

adopted child showed that the specific household relationship combination consisting of householderspouse-adopted child was the 15th

most common, found in nearly

500,000 households, and the 16th

most common combination also

included adopted children, namely,

householder-spouse-natural childadopted child. Nontraditional specific combinations ranking among

the 10 most common in the United

States in 2000 were: householderunmarried partner (5th, with 

2.7 million households),

householder-housemates (6th, with

2.3 million households), and

householder-unmarried partnernatural child (7th, with 1.6 million

households). 

The introduction of the unmarried

partner relationship code in 1990

opened a new dimension of household type. Under the traditional

configuration, unmarried partner

households are classified as either

family or nonfamily households,

depending upon the presence of

members who are related to the

householder. The analysis in this

report used the presence or

absence of a partner (spouse or

unmarried partner) as the basis for

classifying household type. This

dichotomy allows all relationship

codes (other than spouse and

unmarried partner) to be present

in both partner and nonpartner

households. 

Examining detailed relationships

based on partnership status

revealed that in 2000 only 40 percent of all households with a parent included a partner of the

householder (or equivalently, 

60 percent did not). Similarly,

households with a grandparent

were more likely not to have a

partner present (53 percent), and

households with a grandchild were

about as likely to have a partner

present as not (50 percent). If

such households were split along

the traditional family-nonfamily

dimension, 100 percent of each

would be classified as family

households. 

In this report, household type was

also split by the presence or

absence of children (natural,

adopted, or step). Using these two

dimensions creates four broad

household types. In 2000, the

most common type (32 percent)

had neither a partner nor children,

followed closely by households

with both a partner and children

(31 percent), then households with

a partner but without children 

(26 percent), and households with

children but without a partner 

(12 percent).

Examining all relationship codes

present in a household permits the

classification of every household

by the number of generations

present, from one through five.

The analysis found that two-generation households grew slower than

all of the other types during the

1990s. Multigenerational households, defined as households containing 3 or more generations,

grew rapidly, from 3.0 million

households in 1990 to 4.2 million

in 2000, but remained a small proportion, 3.9 percent, of all U.S.

households in 2000. Among all

types of multigenerational households, the householder-childgrandchild type was the most common (2.6 million in 2000, or 

62 percent of all multigenerational

households). 

The identification of these configurations opens opportunities for further exploration of the structure of

American households. Analyses

that controlled for the total number of household members or for

the number of individuals with

particular relationship codes could

further improve understanding U.S.

household structure. The presence

or absence of a partner or children

can affect the functioning of

households. A partner present in

the household has implications

regarding the provision of care in

two-or-more generation households, since the partner can share
30 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

the responsibility of caring for a

parent, grandparent, or grandchild

with the householder. Applying

these alternative classification

schemes to smaller levels of geography might assist local areas in

planning for specific types of facilities or services. 

Additional refinements of the classification types presented in this

report are possible. For example,

the identification of generations

within households might take into

account the age of the household

members. Analyses beginning

with Census 2000 data might classify the presence of foster children

within the household as part of the

child generation. Examining the

household types presented in this

report by sex, race, and Hispanic

origin of the householder should

also reveal new insights. 

SOURCES AND QUALITY 

OF DATA

The data included in this report are

based on special tabulations of the

household relationship item from

the 1990 and 2000 censuses of

population. For 1990, tabulations

from the relationship item are

based on data collected on a 100-

percent basis and on a sample

basis. For 2000, the tabulations

are based on the 100-percent data.

Two sets of 1990 data were used

in this report due to the limited

number of relationship codes available on a 100-percent basis. The

examination of changes from 1990

to 2000 used 100-percent data for

both years whenever the data categories permitted, but required the

use of 1990 sample data for

detailed relationship comparisons.

In this case, the 100-percent data

from 2000 provided greater detail

than the sample data from 1990.

Two relationship codes, adopted

child and foster child, were included as individual codes in 2000;

while in 1990, adopted children

were included with natural children, and foster children were

included with roomers and boarders. The analysis of changes from

1990 to 2000 involved collapsing

the appropriate relationship codes

from 2000 into comparable 1990

sample-based categories. 

In any large-scale statistical operation such as the U.S. decennial

census, human and machine-related errors occur. These errors,

commonly referred to as nonsampling errors, include not enumerating every household or every person in the population, not

obtaining all required information

from the respondents, obtaining

incorrect or inconsistent information, and recording information

incorrectly. In addition, errors can

occur during the manual and electronic processing of the data. As

noted above, to maximize comparability with Census 2000 data,

sample tabulations of data often

were used from the 1990 census.

Estimates derived from sample

data are expected to be different

from the 100-percent figures

because they are subject to sampling and nonsampling errors.

Sampling error in data arises from

the selection of persons and housing units to be included in the

sample. The deviation of a sample

estimate from the average of all

possible samples is called the sampling error. For a detailed discussion of sampling and nonsampling

error in Census 2000, see

<www.census.gov/prod/cen2000

/doc/sf3.pdf> and

<www.census.gov/prod/cen2000

/doc/sf1.pdf>, respectively.

The definition and/or concept of

what constituted a “household”

varied somewhat over the course

of the decennial censuses. In particular, some early censuses (as

recently as 1920) included a small

number of “quasi-households,”

which, in Census 2000 terms,

would often have been considered

as part of the group quarters population, rather than as part of the

household population. 

The terms used to describe households, the categories collected on

the questionnaire, the method of

obtaining responses on relationship, and the manner of tabulating

and processing the data have all

changed since these data were

first collected, creating some problems of comparability with regard

to the interpretation and understanding of historical tabulations

of household relationship data.15

Family and nonfamily households

represent the broadest categories

of household type traditionally

used in census data tabulations.

Each of these broad types generally is divided into two additional

types: family households into

married-couple households and

other family households, and nonfamily households into one-person

households and other nonfamily

households. Both types of family

households often are classified

according to the presence of the

householder’s own children under

18 years, and other family households are additionally classified by

the sex of the householder.

Nonfamily households also tend to

be classified by the sex and the

age of the householder (often with

a focus on age 65 and older). 

Documentation from the decennial

censuses of population generally

notes that sample-data household

results by type tend to slightly

overrepresent family households

and, thus, underrepresent nonfamily households. In this report,

15 As discussed in this report, this

includes comparability between the household relationship data collected in 1990 and

2000.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 31

when deriving percent change

from 1990 to 2000, this tendency

may overstate the growth of nonfamily households and understate

the growth of family households,

since the 1990 tabulations used in

this report were often based on

sample data, while the Census

2000 tabulations were based

exclusively on 100-percent data.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Data on households and families

from the Census 2000 Summary File

1 were released in 2001 and from

Summary File 3 in 2002. These

data and comparable data files from

the 1990 Census of Population are

available on the Internet via

<factfinder.census.gov>. The

Census 2000 data files are available

for purchase on DVD. 

To investigate additional estimates

and reports on topics related to

households and families based on

Census Bureau surveys such as the

American Community Survey, the

Current Population Survey, and the

Survey of Income and Program

Participation, go to

<www.census.gov>. 

Information on other population

and housing topics is presented in

the Census 2000 Briefs series, the

Census 2000 Special Reports series,

and the Population and Housing

Census Tables (PHC-T) series.

These series are available through

the U.S. Census Bureau’s Web site at

<www.census.gov/main/www

/cen2000.html>. These series

cover information about race,

Hispanic origin, age, sex, housing,

households, and other social and

economic characteristics.

For more information about

Census 2000, including data products, call our Customer Services

Center at 301-763-INFO (4636).

U.S. Census Bureau. 2001a.

Households and Families: 2000,

by Tavia Simmons and Grace

O’Neill. Census 2000 Brief

(C2KBR/01-8). Washington, DC.

________. 2001b. “Multigenerational

Households for the United

States, States, and for Puerto

Rico: 2000,” Census 2000 PHC-T17, available at

<www.census.gov/population

/cen2000/phc-t17.pdf>.

________. 2002. Demographic

Trends in the 20th Century, by

Frank Hobbs and Nicole Stoops.

Census 2000 Special Reports

(CENSR-4). Washington, DC.

________. 2003a. Adopted Children

and Stepchildren: 2000, by Rose

Kreider. Census 2000 Special

Reports (CENSR-6). Washington,

DC.

________. 2003b. Married-Couple

and Unmarried-Partner

Households: 2000, by Tavia

Simmons and Martin O’Connell.

Census 2000 Special Reports

(CENSR-5). Washington, DC. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
32 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

APPENDIX A.

DETAILED TABLES

Table A-1.

Most Common Household Relationship Combinations:

1990

(For information on confidentiality protection, sampling error, nonsampling error, and

definitions, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf3td.pdf)

Household composition Number of

households Percent

Total, all households (5,054 combinations). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91,993,582 100.00

Total, 34 most common relationship combinations ............ 88,491,975 96.19

Householder living with Spouse + Natural child ............ 25,013,513 27.19

Living alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,421,114 24.37

Householder living with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,057,348 44.63

Spouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,172,988 21.93

Natural child ......................................... 7,504,178 8.16

Housemate .......................................... 2,020,598 2.20

Unmarried partner .................................... 1,647,208 1.79

Spouse + Stepchild................................... 1,195,656 1.30

Spouse + Natural child + Stepchild . . . .................. 1,137,426 1.24

Unmarried partner + Natural child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859,192 0.93

Sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704,914 0.77

Natural child + Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683,994 0.74

Spouse + Natural child + Grandchild.................... 661,610 0.72

Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412,880 0.45

Spouse + Natural child + Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326,969 0.36

Roomer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322,121 0.35

Grandchild. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287,265 0.31

Spouse + Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275,596 0.30

Natural child + Housemate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261,993 0.28

Spouse + Natural child + Other relative ................. 242,508 0.26

Spouse + Natural child + Sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210,223 0.23

Other nonrelative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202,372 0.22

Natural child + Sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186,370 0.20

Spouse + Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174,479 0.19

Unmarried partner + Other nonrelative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172,976 0.19

Spouse + Natural child + Roomer . . .................... 170,236 0.19

Natural child + Parent................................. 164,525 0.18

Spouse + Natural child + Parent-in-law ................. 150,794 0.16

Other relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147,245 0.16

Spouse + Natural child + Other nonrelative.............. 145,554 0.16

Spouse + Sibling ..................................... 135,770 0.15

Natural child + Other relative .......................... 130,882 0.14

Natural child + Roomer ............................... 122,859 0.13

Natural child + Other nonrelative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115,296 0.13

Spouse + Other relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110,671 0.12

Total, remaining 5,020 relationship combinations . ............ 3,501,607 3.81

Note: Based on sample tabulations. The natural child category includes adopted child

and the roomer category includes boarder and foster child. Combinations shown in italics

had more than 100,000 households in 1990, but less than 100,000 households in Census

2000.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 33

Table A-2.

Most Common Household Relationship Combinations:

2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see

www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Household composition Number of

households Percent

Total, all households (24,722 combinations) .............. 105,480,101 100.00

Total, 45 most common relationship combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . 100,900,038 95.66

Living alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,230,075 25.82

Householder living with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73,669,963 69.84

Spouse + Natural child. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23,664,727 22.44

Spouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,382,944 21.22

Natural child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,865,883 8.41

Unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,682,247 2.54

Housemate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,332,386 2.21

Unmarried partner + Natural child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,580,205 1.50

Spouse + Natural child + Stepchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,197,223 1.14

Spouse + Stepchild. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,105,151 1.05

Natural child + Grandchild ............................. 801,977 0.76

Sibling .............................................. 737,586 0.70

Spouse + Natural child + Grandchild. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717,150 0.68

Roomer ............................................. 563,169 0.53

Parent . . . ........................................... 550,146 0.52

Spouse + Adopted child ............................... 492,934 0.47

Spouse + Natural child + Adopted child ................. 433,945 0.41

Grandchild........................................... 376,494 0.36

Spouse + Grandchild ................................. 361,385 0.34

Other nonrelative..................................... 351,010 0.33

Spouse + Natural child + Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338,235 0.32

Natural child + Housemate ............................ 293,249 0.28

Spouse + Natural child + Parent-in-law ................. 273,404 0.26

Spouse + Natural child + Sibling ....................... 233,036 0.22

Unmarried partner + Other nonrelative .................. 232,931 0.22

Natural child + Parent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221,413 0.21

Spouse + Natural child + Grandchild + Child-in-law....... 200,733 0.19

Natural child + Sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197,192 0.19

Natural child + Other nonrelative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196,193 0.19

Natural child + Grandchild + Child-in-law ................ 186,977 0.18

Spouse + Natural child + Other nonrelative.............. 178,708 0.17

Spouse + Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178,215 0.17

Spouse + Parent-in-law ............................... 159,179 0.15

Adopted child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153,542 0.15

Sibling + Parent ...................................... 145,601 0.14

Natural child + Roomer ............................... 135,836 0.13

Spouse + Natural child + Nephew/Niece ................ 133,700 0.13

Spouse + Sibling ..................................... 129,342 0.12

Spouse + Natural child + Sibling-in-law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122,793 0.12

Spouse + Natural child + Roomer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119,453 0.11

Unmarried partner + Natural child + Other nonrelative . . . . 114,833 0.11

Spouse + Natural child + Child-in-law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112,140 0.11

Unmarried partner + Natural child + Stepchild . . . . . . . . . . . 109,180 0.10

Nephew/Niece ....................................... 103,020 0.10

Unmarried partner + Stepchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102,541 0.10

Natural child + Child-in-law ............................ 101,955 0.10

Total, remaining 24,677 relationship combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,580,063 4.34

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.
34 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

Table A-3.

Household Relationship Combinations With More Than 100,000 Households in 2000 and

Percent Change: 1990 to 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions in 2000, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf and

for information on each of these items and on sampling error in 1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf3td.pdf)

Household composition

Number of households Change, 1990 to 2000

1990 2000 Number Percent

Total, all households . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91,993,582 105,480,101 13,486,519 14.7

Total, 42 combinations with more than 100,000 households in 2000 . . . . . 88,683,591 101,388,887 12,705,296 14.3

Living alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,421,114 27,230,075 4,808,961 21.4

Householder living with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66,262,477 74,158,812 7,896,335 11.9

Spouse + Natural child. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,013,513 24,591,606 –421,907 –1.7

Spouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,172,988 22,382,944 2,209,956 11.0

Natural child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,504,178 9,110,735 1,606,557 21.4

Unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,647,208 2,682,247 1,035,039 62.8

Housemate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,020,598 2,332,386 311,788 15.4

Unmarried partner + Natural child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859,192 1,620,891 761,699 88.7

Spouse + Natural child + Stepchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,137,426 1,236,813 99,387 8.7

Spouse + Stepchild. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,195,656 1,105,151 –90,505 –7.6

Natural child + Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683,994 832,606 148,612 21.7

Spouse + Natural child + Grandchild. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661,610 759,396 97,786 14.8

Sibling ....................................................... 704,914 737,586 32,672 4.6

Roomer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322,121 563,169 241,048 74.8

Parent . . . .................................................... 412,880 550,146 137,266 33.2

Grandchild. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287,265 376,494 89,229 31.1

Other nonrelative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202,372 370,313 167,941 83.0

Spouse + Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275,596 361,385 85,789 31.1

Spouse + Natural child + Parent ................................ 326,969 351,452 24,483 7.5

Natural child + Housemate ..................................... 261,933 302,824 40,891 15.6

Spouse + Natural child + Parent-in-law .......................... 150,794 286,503 135,709 90.0

Unmarried partner + Other nonrelative ........................... 172,976 243,335 70,359 40.7

Spouse + Natural child + Other nonrelative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145,554 242,843 97,289 66.8

Spouse + Natural child + Sibling ................................ 210,223 241,909 31,686 15.1

Natural child + Parent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164,525 229,618 65,093 39.6

Natural child + Other nonrelative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115,296 226,464 111,168 96.4

Spouse + Natural child + Grandchild + Child-in-law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88,200 209,251 121,051 137.2

Natural child + Sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186,370 204,400 18,030 9.7

Natural child + Grandchild + Child-in-law ......................... 84,616 193,680 109,064 128.9

Spouse + Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174,479 178,215 3,736 2.1

Spouse + Parent-in-law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95,761 159,179 63,418 66.2

Sibling + Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87,933 145,601 57,668 65.6

Natural child + Roomer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122,859 141,060 18,201 14.8

Spouse + Natural child + Nephew/Niece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78,108 140,705 62,597 80.1

Spouse + Sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135,770 129,342 –6,428 –4.7

Spouse + Natural child + Sibling-in-law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72,924 127,313 54,389 74.6

Unmarried partner + Natural child + Other nonrelative . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82,237 125,565 43,328 52.7

Spouse + Natural child + Roomer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170,236 125,440 –44,796 –26.3

Spouse + Natural child + Child-in-law............................ 51,780 116,849 65,069 125.7

Unmarried partner + Natural child + Stepchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,186 112,407 70,221 166.5

Natural child + Child-in-law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,919 105,428 61,509 140.1

Nephew/Niece ................................................ 59,691 103,020 43,329 72.6

Unmarried partner + Stepchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,627 102,541 66,914 187.8

Total, all remaining relationship combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,309,991 4,091,214 781,223 23.6

Note: Data for 1990 are based on sample tabulations. The natural child category includes adopted child and the roomer category

includes boarder and foster child.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population and Census 2000.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 35

Table A-4.

Total Households and Change by Presence of Specific Relationship Codes: 1990 to 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions in 2000, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf and

for information on each of these items and on sampling error in 1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf3td.pdf)

Relationship

1990 2000 Change, 1990 to 2000

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Householder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91,993,582 100.0 105,480,101 100.0 13,486,519 14.7

Spouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,718,214 56.2 54,493,232 51.7 2,775,018 5.4

Natural child (and/or adopted) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,998,334 43.5 43,690,903 41.4 3,692,569 9.2

Natural child ............................ (NA) (NA) 42,847,722 40.6 (NA) (NA)

Adopted child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (NA) (NA) 1,567,499 1.5 (NA) (NA)

Natural and adopted child ................ (NA) (NA) 724,318 0.7 (NA) (NA)

Stepchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,806,062 3.1 3,077,726 2.9 271,664 9.7

Sibling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,003,362 2.2 2,504,069 2.4 500,707 25.0

Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,526,050 1.7 2,035,905 1.9 509,855 33.4

Grandchild. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,703,024 2.9 3,560,932 3.4 857,908 31.7

Parent-in-law ............................. 332,703 0.4 660,437 0.6 327,734 98.5

Child-in-law............................... 337,151 0.4 850,566 0.8 513,415 152.3

Other relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,155,960 1.3 371,996 0.4 –783,964 –67.8

Sibling-in-law ............................. 284,442 0.3 582,758 0.6 298,316 104.9

Nephew/Niece ............................ 504,789 0.5 1,035,796 1.0 531,007 105.2

Grandparent .............................. 40,164 - 80,847 0.1 40,683 101.3

Uncle/Aunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88,028 0.1 154,150 0.1 66,122 75.1

Cousin ................................... 151,363 0.2 364,306 0.3 212,943 140.7

Roomer (and/or Foster child) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,017,802 1.1 1,572,436 1.5 554,634 54.5

Roomer ................................ (NA) (NA) 1,372,363 1.3 (NA) (NA)

Foster child. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (NA) (NA) 207,248 0.2 (NA) (NA)

Roomer and foster child. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (NA) (NA) 7,175 - (NA) (NA)

Housemate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,799,634 3.0 3,371,571 3.2 571,937 20.4

Unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,225,626 3.5 5,475,768 5.2 2,250,142 69.8

Other nonrelative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,078,704 1.2 1,754,870 1.7 676,166 62.7

- Less than 0.05 percent. NA Not available.

Note: Data for 1990 are based on sample tabulations.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population and Census 2000.
36 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

Table A-5.

Number of Households With Specific Relationship Codes by Household Type: 1990 and

2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions in 2000, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf and

for information on each of these items and on sampling error in 1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf3td.pdf)

Relationship

1990 2000

Total

households

Family households

Nonfamily

households

Total

households

Family households

Nonfamily

houseTotal holdsMarried

couple

Other

family Total

Married

couple

Other

family

NUMBER

Householder . . 91,993,582 65,049,428 51,718,214 13,331,214 26,944,154 105,480,101 71,787,347 54,493,232 17,294,115 33,692,754

Spouse . . . . . . 51,718,214 51,718,214 51,718,214 (X) (X) 54,493,232 54,493,232 54,493,232 (X) (X)

Natural child1 . 39,998,334 39,998,334 29,017,917 10,980,417 (X) 42,847,722 42,847,722 28,817,801 14,029,921 (X)

Adopted child . (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (X) 1,567,499 1,567,499 1,145,498 422,001 (X)

Stepchild . . . . . 2,806,062 2,806,062 2,610,044 196,018 (X) 3,077,726 3,077,726 2,694,014 383,712 (X)

Sibling . . . . . . . 2,003,362 2,003,362 555,170 1,448,192 (X) 2,504,069 2,504,069 703,419 1,800,650 (X)

Parent . . . . . . . 1,526,050 1,526,050 646,586 879,464 (X) 2,035,905 2,035,905 738,914 1,296,991 (X)

Grandchild. . . . 2,703,024 2,703,024 1,308,423 1,394,601 (X) 3,560,932 3,560,932 1,694,265 1,866,667 (X)

Parent-in-law . 332,703 332,703 319,733 12,970 (X) 660,437 660,437 618,753 41,684 (X)

Child-in-law. . . 337,151 337,151 177,676 159,475 (X) 850,566 850,566 446,249 404,317 (X)

Other relative . 1,155,960 1,155,960 585,010 570,950 (X) 371,996 371,996 147,272 224,724 (X)

Sibling-in-law . 284,442 284,442 220,618 63,824 (X) 582,758 582,758 437,239 145,519 (X)

Nephew/Niece. 504,789 504,789 224,239 280,550 (X) 1,035,796 1,035,796 453,536 582,260 (X)

Grandparent . . 40,164 40,164 18,519 21,645 (X) 80,847 80,847 33,348 47,499 (X)

Uncle/Aunt . . . 88,028 88,028 36,714 51,314 (X) 154,150 154,150 61,714 92,436 (X)

Cousin ....... 151,363 151,363 53,480 97,883 (X) 364,306 364,306 127,165 237,141 (X)

Roomer2 . . . . . 1,017,802 628,354 356,710 271,644 389,448 1,372,363 675,101 322,741 352,360 697,262

Housemate . . . 2,799,634 660,805 158,673 502,132 2,138,829 3,371,571 832,997 216,693 616,304 2,538,574

Unmarried

partner . . . . . 3,225,626 1,312,626 30,989 1,281,637 1,913,000 5,475,768 2,422,186 (X) 2,422,186 3,053,582

Foster child. . . (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) 207,248 172,214 112,542 59,672 35,034

Other

nonrelative . 1,078,704 659,203 305,054 354,149 419,501 1,754,870 1,076,811 467,251 609,560 678,059

PERCENT

Householder . . 100.0 70.7 56.2 14.5 29.3 100.0 68.1 51.7 16.4 31.9

Spouse ...... 100.0 100.0 100.0 (X) (X) 100.0 100.0 100.0 (X) (X)

Natural child1 . 100.0 100.0 72.5 27.5 (X) 100.0 100.0 67.3 32.7 (X)

Adopted child . (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (X) 100.0 100.0 73.1 26.9 (X)

Stepchild ..... 100.0 100.0 93.0 7.0 (X) 100.0 100.0 87.5 12.5 (X)

Sibling ....... 100.0 100.0 27.7 72.3 (X) 100.0 100.0 28.1 71.9 (X)

Parent . . . .... 100.0 100.0 42.4 57.6 (X) 100.0 100.0 36.3 63.7 (X)

Grandchild.... 100.0 100.0 48.4 51.6 (X) 100.0 100.0 47.6 52.4 (X)

Parent-in-law . 100.0 100.0 96.1 3.9 (X) 100.0 100.0 93.7 6.3 (X)

Child-in-law. . . 100.0 100.0 52.7 47.3 (X) 100.0 100.0 52.5 47.5 (X)

Other relative . 100.0 100.0 50.6 49.4 (X) 100.0 100.0 39.6 60.4 (X)

Sibling-in-law . 100.0 100.0 77.6 22.4 (X) 100.0 100.0 75.0 25.0 (X)

Nephew/Niece. 100.0 100.0 44.4 55.6 (X) 100.0 100.0 43.8 56.2 (X)

Grandparent . . 100.0 100.0 46.1 53.9 (X) 100.0 100.0 41.2 58.8 (X)

Uncle/Aunt . . . 100.0 100.0 41.7 58.3 (X) 100.0 100.0 40.0 60.0 (X)

Cousin ....... 100.0 100.0 35.3 64.7 (X) 100.0 100.0 34.9 65.1 (X)

Roomer2 ..... 100.0 61.7 35.0 26.7 38.3 100.0 49.2 23.5 25.7 50.8

Housemate . . . 100.0 23.6 5.7 17.9 76.4 100.0 24.7 6.4 18.3 75.3

Unmarried

partner ..... 100.0 40.7 1.0 39.7 59.3 100.0 44.2 (X) 44.2 55.8

Foster child. . . (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) (NA) 100.0 83.1 54.3 28.8 16.9

Other

nonrelative . 100.0 61.1 28.3 32.8 38.9 100.0 61.4 26.6 34.7 38.6

NA Not available. X Not applicable.

1

Data for 1990 include adopted children.

2

Data for 1990 include foster children.

Note: Data for 1990 are based on sample tabulations.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population and Census 2000.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 37

Table A-6.

Households by Partnership Status and Relationship Composition: 1990

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf1td.pdf)

Household composition Total

households

Partner households

Nonpartner

Total Spouse Unmarried households

NUMBER

Total households............................ 91,947,410 54,025,036 50,708,322 3,316,714 37,922,374

Partner only or living alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,115,961 21,535,541 19,863,896 1,671,645 22,580,420

Children in household. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,098,562 30,889,501 29,643,541 1,245,960 10,209,061

Children only ............................ 35,360,110 27,582,554 26,614,537 968,017 7,777,556

With other relatives only................... 4,187,820 2,536,108 2,420,116 115,992 1,651,712

With nonrelatives only .................... 1,185,816 586,460 450,256 136,204 599,356

With other relatives and nonrelatives . . . . . . . 364,816 184,379 158,632 25,747 180,437

Other relatives in household1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,903,303 3,815,207 3,574,811 240,396 4,088,096

Other relatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,055,778 1,032,329 954,433 77,896 2,023,449

With nonrelatives only .................... 294,889 62,391 41,630 20,761 232,498

Nonrelatives in household2 .................... 5,227,741 1,338,504 855,340 483,164 3,889,237

Nonrelatives only ......................... 3,382,220 505,274 204,822 300,452 2,876,946

PERCENT BY PARTNERSHIP STATUS

Total households............................ 100.0 58.8 55.1 3.6 41.2

Partner only or living alone .................... 100.0 48.8 45.0 3.8 51.2

Children in household......................... 100.0 75.2 72.1 3.0 24.8

Children only ............................ 100.0 78.0 75.3 2.7 22.0

With other relatives only................... 100.0 60.6 57.8 2.8 39.4

With nonrelatives only .................... 100.0 49.5 38.0 11.5 50.5

With other relatives and nonrelatives . . . . . . . 100.0 50.5 43.5 7.1 49.5

Other relatives in household1 .................. 100.0 48.3 45.2 3.0 51.7

Other relatives only ....................... 100.0 33.8 31.2 2.5 66.2

With nonrelatives only .................... 100.0 21.2 14.1 7.0 78.8

Nonrelatives in household2 .................... 100.0 25.6 16.4 9.2 74.4

Nonrelatives only ......................... 100.0 14.9 6.1 8.9 85.1

PERCENT BY COMPOSITION

Total households............................ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Partner only or living alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48.0 39.9 39.2 50.4 59.5

Children in household. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.7 57.2 58.5 37.6 26.9

Children only ............................ 38.5 51.1 52.5 29.2 20.5

With other relatives only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6 4.7 4.8 3.5 4.4

With nonrelatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 1.1 0.9 4.1 1.6

With other relatives and nonrelatives . . . . . . . 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.8 0.5

Other relatives in household1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.6 7.1 7.0 7.2 10.8

Other relatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 1.9 1.9 2.3 5.3

With nonrelatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.6 0.6

Nonrelatives in household2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.7 2.5 1.7 14.6 10.3

Nonrelatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7 0.9 0.4 9.1 7.6

1

Includes other relatives living with children and/or with nonrelatives.

2

Includes nonrelatives living with children and/or with other relatives.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population.
38 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

Table A-7.

Households by Partnership Status and Relationship Composition: 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Household composition Total

households

Partner households

Nonpartner

Total Spouse Unmarried households

NUMBER

Total households............................ 105,480,101 59,969,000 54,493,232 5,475,768 45,511,101

Partner only or living alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52,295,266 25,065,191 22,382,944 2,682,247 27,230,075

Children in household. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,146,309 32,967,528 30,686,991 2,280,537 12,178,781

Children only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37,945,138 28,769,409 26,933,570 1,835,839 9,175,729

With other relatives only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,213,600 3,191,673 2,982,468 209,205 2,021,927

With nonrelatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,439,384 709,102 514,130 194,972 730,282

With other relatives and nonrelatives . . . .... 548,187 297,344 256,823 40,521 250,843

Other relatives in household1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,785,169 4,819,251 4,427,876 391,375 4,965,918

Other relatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,643,259 1,248,225 1,130,852 117,373 2,395,034

With nonrelatives only .................... 380,123 82,009 57,733 24,276 298,114

Nonrelatives in household2 .................... 6,382,838 1,694,502 1,063,398 631,104 4,688,336

Nonrelatives only ......................... 4,015,144 606,047 234,712 371,335 3,409,097

PERCENT BY PARTNERSHIP STATUS

Total households............................ 100.0 56.9 51.7 5.2 43.1

Partner only or living alone .................... 100.0 47.9 42.8 5.1 52.1

Children in household......................... 100.0 73.0 68.0 5.1 27.0

Children only ............................ 100.0 75.8 71.0 4.8 24.2

With other relatives only................... 100.0 61.2 57.2 4.0 38.8

With nonrelatives only .................... 100.0 49.3 35.7 13.5 50.7

With other relatives and nonrelatives . . . . . . . 100.0 54.2 46.8 7.4 45.8

Other relatives in household1 .................. 100.0 49.3 45.3 4.0 50.7

Other relatives only ....................... 100.0 34.3 31.0 3.2 65.7

With nonrelatives only .................... 100.0 21.6 15.2 6.4 78.4

Nonrelatives in household2 .................... 100.0 26.5 16.7 9.9 73.5

Nonrelatives only ......................... 100.0 15.1 5.8 9.2 84.9

PERCENT BY COMPOSITION

Total households............................ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Partner only or living alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49.6 41.8 41.1 49.0 59.8

Children in household......................... 42.8 55.0 56.3 41.6 26.8

Children only ............................ 36.0 48.0 49.4 33.5 20.2

With other relatives only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9 5.3 5.5 3.8 4.4

With nonrelatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 1.2 0.9 3.6 1.6

With other relatives and nonrelatives . . . . . . . 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.7 0.6

Other relatives in household1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 8.0 8.1 7.1 10.9

Other relatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 2.1 2.1 2.1 5.3

With nonrelatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.4 0.7

Nonrelatives in household2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 2.8 2.0 11.5 10.3

Nonrelatives only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8 1.0 0.4 6.8 7.5

1

Includes other relatives living with children and/or with nonrelatives.

2

Includes nonrelatives living with children and/or with other relatives.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 39

Table A-8.

Households With Presence of Specific Relationship Codes by Partnership Status and

Presence of Children: 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf)

Relationship

Total households Partner households No spouse or partner households

Total

With

children

Without

children Total

With

children

Without

children Total

With

children

Without

children

NUMBER

Householder ............... 105,480,101 45,146,309 60,333,792 59,969,000 32,967,528 27,001,472 45,511,101 12,178,781 33,332,320

Spouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54,493,232 30,686,991 23,806,241 54,493,232 30,686,991 23,806,241 (X) (X) (X)

Natural (and/or adopted) child . 43,690,903 43,690,903 (X) 31,572,676 31,572,676 (X) 12,118,227 12,118,227 (X)

Natural child . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,847,722 42,847,722 (X) 30,948,876 30,948,876 (X) 11,898,846 11,898,846 (X)

Adopted child . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,567,499 1,567,499 (X) 1,203,401 1,203,401 (X) 364,098 364,098 (X)

Natural and adopted child . . . 724,318 724,318 (X) 579,601 579,601 (X) 144,717 144,717 (X)

Stepchild. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,077,726 3,077,726 (X) 2,955,645 2,955,645 (X) 122,081 122,081 (X)

Sibling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,504,069 991,860 1,512,209 835,211 572,510 262,701 1,668,858 419,350 1,249,508

Parent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,035,905 930,800 1,105,105 821,994 564,502 257,492 1,213,911 366,298 847,613

Grandchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,560,932 2,639,963 920,969 1,794,491 1,357,687 436,804 1,766,441 1,282,276 484,165

Parent-in-law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660,437 455,514 204,923 634,049 441,641 192,408 26,388 13,873 12,515

Child-in-law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850,566 802,181 48,385 465,620 442,726 22,894 384,946 359,455 25,491

Other relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371,996 193,189 178,807 168,219 106,500 61,719 203,777 86,689 117,088

Sibling-in-law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582,758 383,998 198,760 461,754 344,489 117,265 121,004 39,509 81,495

Nephew/Niece . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,035,796 607,950 427,846 507,236 385,290 121,946 528,560 222,660 305,900

Grandparent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80,847 44,276 36,571 37,754 29,624 8,130 43,093 14,652 28,441

Uncle/Aunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154,150 75,590 78,560 69,745 49,348 20,397 84,405 26,242 58,163

Cousin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364,306 173,969 190,337 148,527 112,288 36,239 215,779 61,681 154,098

Roomer (and/or foster child). . . 1,572,436 618,313 954,123 551,060 351,359 199,701 1,021,376 266,954 754,422

Roomer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,372,363 491,317 881,046 418,259 262,389 155,870 954,104 228,928 725,176

Foster child . . . . . . ........ 207,248 130,397 76,851 136,149 90,768 45,381 71,099 39,629 31,470

Roomer and foster child .... 7,175 3,401 3,774 3,348 1,798 1,550 3,827 1,603 2,224

Housemate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,371,571 608,688 2,762,883 346,255 185,228 161,027 3,025,316 423,460 2,601,856

Unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . 5,475,768 2,280,537 3,195,231 5,475,768 2,280,537 3,195,231 (X) (X) (X)

Other nonrelative . . . . . . . . . . . 1,754,870 870,461 884,409 879,771 519,445 360,326 875,099 351,016 524,083

PERCENT

Householder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 42.8 57.2 56.9 31.3 25.6 43.1 11.5 31.6

Spouse . . . . . . ............. 100.0 56.3 43.7 100.0 56.3 43.7 (X) (X) (X)

Natural (and/or adopted) child . 100.0 100.0 (X) 72.3 72.3 (X) 27.7 27.7 (X)

Natural child . . . . . . ....... 100.0 100.0 (X) 72.2 72.2 (X) 27.8 27.8 (X)

Adopted child ............ 100.0 100.0 (X) 76.8 76.8 (X) 23.2 23.2 (X)

Natural and adopted child . . . 100.0 100.0 (X) 80.0 80.0 (X) 20.0 20.0 (X)

Stepchild. . . . . . ............ 100.0 100.0 (X) 96.0 96.0 (X) 4.0 4.0 (X)

Sibling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 39.6 60.4 33.4 22.9 10.5 66.6 16.7 49.9

Parent.................... 100.0 45.7 54.3 40.4 27.7 12.6 59.6 18.0 41.6

Grandchild ................ 100.0 74.1 25.9 50.4 38.1 12.3 49.6 36.0 13.6

Parent-in-law . . . . . . ........ 100.0 69.0 31.0 96.0 66.9 29.1 4.0 2.1 1.9

Child-in-law. . . . . ........... 100.0 94.3 5.7 54.7 52.1 2.7 45.3 42.3 3.0

Other relative . ............. 100.0 51.9 48.1 45.2 28.6 16.6 54.8 23.3 31.5

Sibling-in-law .............. 100.0 65.9 34.1 79.2 59.1 20.1 20.8 6.8 14.0

Nephew/Niece . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 58.7 41.3 49.0 37.2 11.8 51.0 21.5 29.5

Grandparent . . . . . . ......... 100.0 54.8 45.2 46.7 36.6 10.1 53.3 18.1 35.2

Uncle/Aunt . . . . . . .......... 100.0 49.0 51.0 45.2 32.0 13.2 54.8 17.0 37.7

Cousin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 47.8 52.2 40.8 30.8 9.9 59.2 16.9 42.3

Roomer (and/or foster child). . . 100.0 39.3 60.7 35.0 22.3 12.7 65.0 17.0 48.0

Roomer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 35.8 64.2 30.5 19.1 11.4 69.5 16.7 52.8

Foster child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 62.9 37.1 65.7 43.8 21.9 34.3 19.1 15.2

Roomer and foster child .... 100.0 47.4 52.6 46.7 25.1 21.6 53.3 22.3 31.0

Housemate ................ 100.0 18.1 81.9 10.3 5.5 4.8 89.7 12.6 77.2

Unmarried partner . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 41.6 58.4 100.0 41.6 58.4 (X) (X) (X)

Other nonrelative . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0 49.6 50.4 50.1 29.6 20.5 49.9 20.0 29.9

X Not applicable.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, Census 2000.
40 Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census Bureau

Table A-9.

Households by Number of Generations, Composition of Generations, and Presence of

Children and Partner: 1990 and 2000

(For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error, and definitions in 2000, see www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf1.pdf and

for information on each of these items and on sampling error in 1990, see factfinder.census.gov/metadoc/1990stf3td.pdf)

Number of generations

and type

1990 2000

Total

Married

couple

Unmarried

partner

No spouse

or partner Total

Married

couple

Unmarried

partner

No spouse

or partner

Total households. . . . . . . 91,993,582 51,718,214 3,309,716 36,965,652 105,480,101 54,493,232 5,475,768 45,511,101

1 generation . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,739,896 20,689,327 2,074,717 25,975,852 57,686,135 22,880,359 3,113,943 31,691,833

2 generations . . . . . . . . . . . 40,241,541 29,356,607 1,166,803 9,718,131 43,631,159 29,353,148 2,217,613 12,060,398

3 or more generations . . . 3,012,145 1,672,280 68,196 1,271,669 4,162,807 2,259,725 144,212 1,758,870

Family households . . . . . . 65,049,428 51,718,214 1,281,637 12,049,577 71,787,347 54,493,232 2,422,186 14,871,929

1 generation . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,795,742 20,689,327 46,638 1,059,777 23,993,381 22,880,359 60,361 1,052,661

2 generations . . . . . . . . . . . 40,241,541 29,356,607 1,166,803 9,718,131 43,631,159 29,353,148 2,217,613 12,060,398

H-Gpar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,873 2,523 390 7,960 22,397 4,707 1,284 16,406

H-Par ................ 910,924 306,592 19,087 585,245 1,257,037 395,090 38,172 823,775

H-Ch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38,659,806 28,746,619 1,136,677 8,776,510 41,489,587 28,562,506 2,157,201 10,769,880

H-GCh ............... 659,938 300,873 10,649 348,416 862,138 390,845 20,956 450,337

3 or more generations . . . 3,012,145 1,672,280 68,196 1,271,669 4,162,807 2,259,725 144,212 1,758,870

Family households with

natural, adopted, or

step children. . . . . . . . . . 41,429,617 30,354,795 1,197,547 9,877,275 45,146,309 30,686,991 2,280,537 12,178,781

1 generation . . . . . . . . . . . . (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X)

2 generations . . . . . . . . . . . 38,474,131 28,698,256 1,130,819 8,645,056 41,125,452 28,464,186 2,140,757 10,520,509

H-Gpar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X)

H-Par . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X)

H-Ch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38,474,131 28,698,256 1,130,819 8,645,056 41,125,452 28,464,186 2,140,757 10,520,509

H-GCh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X) (X)

3 or more generations . . . 2,955,486 1,656,539 66,728 1,232,219 4,020,857 2,222,805 139,780 1,658,272

Family households without natural, adopted, or

step children. . . . . . . . . . 23,619,811 21,363,419 84,090 2,172,302 26,641,038 23,806,241 141,649 2,693,148

1 generation . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,795,742 20,689,327 46,638 1,059,777 23,993,381 22,880,359 60,361 1,052,661

2 generations . . . . . . . . . . . 1,767,410 658,351 35,984 1,073,075 2,505,707 888,962 76,856 1,539,889

H-Gpar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,873 2,523 390 7,960 22,397 4,707 1,284 16,406

H-Par ................ 910,924 306,592 19,087 585,245 1,257,037 395,090 38,172 823,775

H-Ch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185,675 48,363 5,858 131,454 364,135 98,320 16,444 249,371

H-GCh ............... 659,938 300,873 10,649 348,416 862,138 390,845 20,956 450,337

3 or more generations . . . 56,659 15,741 1,468 39,450 141,950 36,920 4,432 100,598

Nonfamily households . . . 26,944,154 (X) 2,028,079 24,916,075 33,692,754 (X) 3,053,582 30,639,172

1 generation . . . . . . . . . . . . 26,944,154 (X) 2,028,079 24,916,075 33,692,754 (X) 3,053,582 30,639,172

X Not applicable.

Note: The generations pertaining to the abbreviations shown in this table are as follows: H= Householder; Gpar = Grandparent;

Par = Parent; Ch = Child; and GCh = Grandchild. Data for 1990 are based on sample tabulations.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, unpublished tabulations, 1990 Census of Population and Census 2000.
U.S. Census Bureau Examining American Household Composition: 1990 and 2000 41

Family Household (Family) — a

householder and one or more people living together in the same

household who are related to the

householder by birth, marriage, or

adoption. A family household may

contain people not related to the

householder, but those people are

not included as part of the householder’s family in census tabulations. Not all households contain

families since a household may

comprise a group of unrelated people or one person living alone.

Compare Nonfamily Household.

Household — one person or a

group of people living in a housing

unit. 

Householder — the person (or

one of the people) in whose name

the housing unit is owned or rented (maintained) or, if there is no

such person, any adult member of

the household, excluding roomers,

boarders, or paid employees. The

person designated as the householder is the “reference person” to

whom the relationship of all other

household members, if any, is

recorded.

Married-Couple Household — a

family household maintained by a

householder and his or her spouse

in which the spouse lives in the

same household with the householder. See Family Household.

Multigenerational Household —

a household with three or more

generations present. The five generations identified in this report

can create 11 specific multigenerational household types, including

six types of three-generation

households, four types of four-generation households, and one type

of five-generation household.

Nonfamily Household — a

household composed of one person living alone or a household of

two or more people where all are

unrelated to the householder.

Compare Family Household.

Nonpartner Household — a

household that does not contain

either a spouse or an unmarried

partner. All other households are

classified as partner households.

Compare Partner Household.

One-Generation Household — a

person living alone (the householder only) or a householder living

only with one or more of the people identified by the relationship

codes pertaining to the householder’s generation (spouse, brother,

sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law,

cousin, other relative, roomer,

boarder, housemate, roommate,

unmarried partner, foster child,

and other nonrelative). 

One-Person Household — a

household composed of one person living alone.

Other Family Household — a

household maintained by a woman

without a husband present who is

living with at least one other

relative, or maintained by a man

without a wife present who is living with at least one other relative.

Other family households comprise

all family households excluding

married-couple households. See

also Family Household.

Other Nonfamily Household —

a household of two or more members, none of whom is related to

the householder. Other nonfamily

households include all nonfamily

households except one-person

households. See also Nonfamily

Household.

Partner Household — a household containing the householder

and either a spouse or an unmarried partner. All other households

are classified as nonpartner households. Partner households include

married-couple households and

unmarried-partner households

(regardless of gender). Compare

Nonpartner Household.

Two-Generation Household — a

household containing a householder living with one or more members of only one of the generations

other than the householder generation (grandparent, grandchild,

parent generation, or child generation). Any number of relationship

codes pertaining to the householder generation may be present in

the household (see One-Generation

Household).

APPENDIX B.

GLOSSARY
CENSR-24 U S C E N S U S B U R E A U Composition: 1990 and 2000 Examining American Household Census 2000 Special Reports