Abbreviated as SSCF; referenced by 3 other explainers
Same-sex couples shows how an area's couple families split by the sex of the two partners. It sorts couple families into three groups.
The figures come from Census data. The Australian Bureau of Statistics collects them. Place Forecast pulls the source from ABS TableBuilder. It is the only ABS product that publishes these counts.
ABS does not publish a separate Not stated count for couple type at the small-area scale this marker uses; non-responses are folded into the published couple-family totals.
Same-sex marriages have been counted alongside other registered marriages since 9 December 2017. The 2021 Census was the first to count them on the same basis as opposite-sex marriages. Same-sex de facto couples have always been counted as couple families.
The Census records sex as female or male only, so this page does too. A same-sex couple here is two people of the same sex who live together as a couple. Trans, non-binary, and intersex people in couples are not shown as a separate group. They are counted within the sex they reported on the form. To say more about gender diversity would need a different data source.
The three groups are:
Family life in many communities includes more than the couple. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kinship systems share care across many adults. So do many culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) homes. The Census records only the couple bond between two adults at home. So this page tells a part of the story, not the whole one.
The total counts couple families by place of enumeration on Census night. That is where each family slept, not where they usually live. The marital status pages use usual residence instead. So a holidaying couple turns up here for the place they slept, not their home. The total does not count one-parent families, other family types, lone people, or group households. To see all family types, look at the Family blending and Household type pages.
This total is smaller than the family count on the Family blending page. Family blending covers all family types. This page covers couple families only. The two pages will not match.
Place Forecast splits each ABS figure down to mesh blocks and sums them back to the area you see. The downscaling glossary explains the method and its limits, including why this marker downscales from SA2 rather than SA1.
A zero here does not mean no same-sex couples live in the area. ABS perturbs small cells, which can shift small counts down to zero. Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer people are single. Others share a home with friends. Some have a partner the Census does not record as same-sex.
This matters more in rural and remote LGAs, where total couple-family counts are already small. In some such LGAs, both male and female same-sex categories are published as zero. Where local context calls for it, in line with Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles, talk with the relevant community-controlled organisation before drawing strong claims.
Each category at the LGA level matches the ABS figure. This is LGA anchoring.
For service choices about one community, read small-area figures as patterns, not exact counts. Check them with community organisations before drawing strong claims.