Measuring Marriage and Cohabitation: Assessing Same-Sex Relationship Status in the Current Population Survey
Abstract Since June 26, 2015, marriages to same-sex couples have been legally recognized across every state in the United States, bringing new challenges to measuring relationship status in surveys. Starting in 2015 for select households and in 2017 for all households, the Current Population Survey (CPS) used a new household roster that directly identified same-sex and different-sex cohabiting and married couples. We gauge how the estimates and characteristics of same-sex couples vary according to old and new roster categories using the 2015/2016 and 2017/2018 CPS. Employing the new roster, we distinguish the sociodemographic characteristics of married and cohabiting same-sex couples. These findings have implications for the measurement of same-sex couples and our understanding of marriage among sexual minorities.