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Households, Persons Per Household, and Family Households, 1990

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Population, Summary Tabulation File 1A and 1C, table P-16 to P-18. Updated every 10 years. http://venus.census.gov/cdrom/lookup or http://factfinder.census.gov.

Definition:

A household includes all the persons who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group of rooms, or a single room that is occupied (or if vacant, is intended for occupancy) as separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building and which have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall. The occupants may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more families living together, or any other group of related or unrelated persons who share living arrangements.

Persons Per Household is obtained by dividing the number of persons in households by the number of households (or householders).

Family Type--A family consists of a householder and one or more other persons living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. All persons in a household who are related to the householder are regarded as members of his or her family. A household can contain only one family for purposes of census tabulations. Not all households contain families since a household may comprise a group of unrelated persons or one person living alone.

Families are classified by type as either a "married-couple family" or "other family" according to the sex of the householder and the presence of relatives. The data on family type are based on answers to questions on sex and relationship which were asked on a 100-percent basis.

Scope and Methodology:

These data were included on the every census form (100%) sent to households. In 100-percent tabulations, as shown here, the count of households or householders always equals the count of occupied housing units. In sample tabulations, the numbers may differ as a result of the weighting process.

More Information:

• Current Population Survey and other reports about households and families
• Projections of Households and Families
• Household Estimates for the U.S. and states

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