THE SANTA FE GAY INDEX

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Gay index: 201

Gay male index: 178

Lesbian index: 224

National norm: 100

The gay index is a comparative score, based on the percentage of people reporting in the 2000 U.S. Census that they lived in a same-sex partnership.

A score of 100 is the national norm. A number above 100 indicates that the local proportion same-sex unmarried households is higher than the national average. For example, 140 would mean that the proportion was 40 percent higher than the national norm.

A score of 60 would be 40 percent lower.This statistic is not an absolute measure of gay households.

Not everyone who lives in such a relationship is gay; not everyone who is gay lives in such a relationship; and some who do may feel uncomfortable saying so on a census return.

However, responses to the question, asked of all U.S. households, provide a good indicator of gay relationships in a community.ePodunk publishes three measures: a combined gay male/lesbian score called the gay index, a score for gay males and a score for lesbians.

The indexes are provided for the 1,360 U.S. communities in which 50 or more couples reported living in such relationships.Statistics were analyzed by Gary Gates, a demographer at the Urban Institute and co-author of the Gay and Lesbian Atlas