Report: Men in Same-Sex Marriages Make More Than Opposite-Sex Unions

A new analysis from the Pew Research Center has found that that people in same-sex marriages have a different demographic profile than those in opposite-sex marriages -- especially men in same-sex marriages.

Pew's analysis explored adults 18 years or older who had been married in the last decade. It's based on data released this year by the U.S. Census Bureau, which found there almost 570,000 same-sex married couples in 2019.

Researchers found that men in same-sex marriages had higher levels of education and higher annual incomes than men in opposite-sex marriages. In same-sex marriages, 50 percent of men were found to have a bachelor's degree, while 38 percent of men in opposite-sex marriages had one.

Women in same-sex marriages faired about the same, with 47 percent of women in same-sex marriages having a degree, while 45 percent of women in opposite-sex marriages had one.

Household incomes for women in same-sex marriages were higher by $10,800 on average than women in opposite-sex marriages, according to Pew.

For men, the difference was $41,600.

However, employment responses show that men in opposite-sex marriages were more likely to be employed than those in same-sex marriages -- 89 percent of men in opposite-sex marriages to 80 percent of men in same-sex marriages.

For women, that number is reversed, Pew noted. Women in same-sex marriages were 76% more likely to have a job than the 72 percent of women in opposite-sex marriages who were employed.

Pew also found, "Both men and women in same-sex marriages are more likely than their peers in opposite-sex marriages to be married to someone of a different race or ethnicity."

Almost 30 percent of men in same-sex marriages reported being intermarried compared with 16 percent of men in opposite-sex marriages. For women, the numbers were a bit closer -- 20 percent of women in same-sex marriages reported being intermarried compared to 16 percent of women in opposite-sex marriages.