Afamily is defined by theUnited States Census Bureau for statistical purposes as "a group of two people or more (one of whom is thehouseholder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption, and residing together; all such people (including related subfamily members) are considered as members of one family."
Afamily household is more inclusive, consisting of "a household maintained by a householder who is in a family (as defined above), and includes any unrelated people (unrelated subfamily members and/or secondary individuals) who may be residing there."[1]
In 2014, the US Census Bureau began includingsame-sex marriages in their counts of families and family households. Prior to this, they were counted ascohabiting partners; thus, they were not considered as forming a family.[2]