The number of married-couple families living in poverty dropped to 3.1 million in 1986, from 3.4 million in 1985.

This figure includes both married-couple families (59 percent) and other families (12 percent).

In terms of poverty, 14.4% of all families and 7.1% of married-couple families lived below the poverty line.

The number of married-couple families with children grew by just under 6 percent in the 1990's.

Over half, 58,9% specifically, are married-couple families.

Although more adult women live in married-couple families than in any other living arrangement, an ever-growing number of women are raising children without a spouse.

In 1991, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median income of married-couple families with the wife working outside the home was $48,169.

And in 1993, women earned more than men in 23 percent of the married-couple families where both spouses worked.

This figure includes both married-couple families (45%) and other families (20%).

They're married-couple families living the American dream in southeast Queens.