The 10 Australian suburbs with the largest proportion of male same-sex couples living together are all clustered within a few kilometres of Sydney's Central Station.
Topping the list was Darlinghurst, where almost one in five couples living together are men in same-sex relationships, followed by Elizabeth Bay, Surry Hills, Potts Point and Redfern.
Suburbs with the highest proportion of female same-sex couples were a little more dispersed. Seven inner-Sydney neighbourhoods were among the top 10, but the list was rounded out by Mayfield East in Newcastle, Daylesford in central Victoria and Ethelton in suburban Adelaide.
A special Bureau of Statistics report about same-sex couples drawing on data from the 2016 census said there were almost 47,000 same-sex couples living together in Australia - about 1 per cent of the total (the census does not count those relationships which extend beyond the household). The count of same-sex couples surged by 82 per cent between the 2006 census and the 2016 census.
"The increase in the reported number of same-sex couples may in part reflect greater willingness by people to identify themselves as being in a same-sex relationship and an improvement over the last 20 years in the rights of same-sex couples," the Bureau's report said.
Younger people accounted for almost all of the increase in the number of same-sex couples between the 2011 and 2016.
The special report comes less than a week after the historic vote in Federal Parliament to legalise same-sex marriage.
Almost two-thirds of same-sex couples (63 per cent) live in New South Wales or Victoria, compared to 57 per cent of all couples.
The proportion of same-sex couple families with children rose from 12 per cent to 15 per cent between 2011 and 2016. But there was a stark gender divide - one in four female same-sex couples have children compared with about one in 22 male couples. The bureau pointed out the census does not collect information on people's sexual orientation so cannot provide "a complete picture of families consisting of lesbians or gay men and their children" (such as single-parent families).
People in same-sex couples are relatively well educated - 45 per cent had a bachelor degree or higher compared with 29 per cent of people in opposite-sex couples. People in same-sex couples were also much more likely to have a postgraduate degree than people in opposite-sex couples. This reflects the younger age profile of same-sex couples and higher educational attainments of more recent generations.
The census revealed same-sex couples are much more likely to split the housework than opposite-sex couples. Just over 56 per cent of partners in same-sex couples did "about the same" amount of domestic work compared with 39 per cent of opposite-sex couples.
Workers in a same-sex relationship, both male and female, were also likely to have a higher income than their counterparts in opposite-sex couples.
The difference was greatest among females - women in same-sex couples were twice as likely to be earning $2000 or more a week as women in opposite-sex couples.
Just over half of employed people in same-sex couples worked as managers or professionals (51 per cent), compared with 40 per cent of people in opposite-sex couples.
The bureau's analysis found same-sex couples tend to have a greater age gap between partners than opposite-sex relationships.
"There was an age difference of more than 10 years between partners in 25 per cent of male same-sex couples and 14 per cent of female same-sex couples, compared with only 8 per cent of opposite-sex couples," it said.
People in same-sex couples were most likely to report they had no religion (57 per cent), however, 32 per cent said they were Christian.
