Same-sex couple family explained Place Forecast Feature

Abbreviated as SSCF; referenced by 3 other explainers

Same-sex couples shows couple families by the sex of both partners.

These figures are Place Forecast estimates based on Census data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The three couple-family types are:

• Female same-sex couple family: two females living together as a couple. They may or may not have children.
• Male same-sex couple family: two males living together as a couple. They may or may not have children.
• Opposite-sex couple family: two people of different sexes living together as a couple. They may or may not have children.

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 based on the sex recorded on their Census form. Saying more about gender diversity would need a different data source.

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. The total does not count one-parent families, other family types, lone people, or group households.

ABS does not publish a Not stated count for couple type at this scale. Non-responses are classified into the published couple-family totals.

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.

A zero here does not mean no same-sex couples live in the area. The ABS adjusts small counts to protect privacy. This can push a small number down to zero. It is called perturbation.

This matters more in rural and remote LGAs, where total couple-family counts are already small. In some such LGAs, both female and male same-sex categories are published as zero.

See the marker methodology for how these figures are built and its limits.

Treat small-area figures as patterns, not exact counts. Check them with the relevant community-controlled organisation. This follows Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles.