Here's the lead grabber:
Married couples, whose numbers have been declining for decades as a proportion of U.S. households, have finally slipped into a minority, according to an analysis of new census figures by The New York Times.
The American Community Survey, released this month by the Census Bureau, found that 49.7 percent, or 55.2 million, of the nation's 111.1 million households in 2005 were made up of married couples--with and without children--just shy of a majority and down from more than 52 percent five years earlier.
Then at the bottom, they tell us this:
The census survey estimated that 5.2 million couples, a little more than 5 percent of households, were unmarried opposite-sex partners. An additional 413,000 households were male couples and 363,000 were female couples. In all, nearly 1 in 10 couples were unmarried. (One in 20 households consisted of people living alone).
So, 10% of couples are unmarried, which would mean that 90% of couples are married. Quite frankly, I'm surprised it's that high.
Though I'm not sure these numbers make sense. For starters, it says nearly 10 percent of households consist of unmarried couples, but the math doesn't add up: 6 million out of 111 million households isn't almost 10 percent.The story also says 5% of households consist of people living alone. So taking the story at face value: 10% of householders are unmarried couples, 5% of households consist of single adults, and almost 50% of households consist of married couples. That's 65%. Where is the other 35%?
