Gay Couples in Almost Every U.S. County

It’s official: We truly are everywhere. There are 901,997 same-sex couples in the United States, and they are represented in 99% of U.S. counties, according to an analysis of 2010 U.S. Census data by the Williams Institute.

The institute, a think tank based at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, also reports that 60% of the couples are female, 40% male, and that 22% of all couples are raising children.

“Child-rearing among same-sex couples is most common in the Deep South and Mountain West regions,” Williams Institute demographer Gary Gates said in a press release. “In these socially conservative areas, LGBT people likely come out later in life and are more likely to have a child from a relationship with a different-sex partner when they were younger.”

Among large cities — population of more than 250,000 — the five the with the highest proportion of same-sex couples were, in order from number 1, San Francisco; Seattle; Oakland, Calif.; Minneapolis; and Atlanta. Among mid-size cities — population 100,000 — the greatest concentration of gay couples was in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Berkeley, Calif.; Salt Lake City; Cambridge, Mass.; and Orlando, Fla. Among cities with fewer than 100,000 residents, the top five were Provincetown, Mass.; Wilton Manors, Fla.; Palm Springs, Calif.; Rehoboth Beach, Del.; and Guerneville, Calif.

Find more information via a downloadable PDF here.