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Guide · United States

Common relationship types

These are common ways people in the United States describe relationships that do not necessarily involve marriage. More than one label may apply: a relationship can be exclusive, committed, and long-distance at the same time.

These are conversational descriptions, not a single official classification. The legal effects of cohabitation and domestic partnership depend on the state and the specific circumstances.

Romantic relationships

  1. 1

    Casual dating

    Dating without an agreed commitment or promise of a shared future.

  2. 2

    Exclusive dating

    You date only each other, without necessarily considering yourselves a family yet.

  3. 3

    Committed relationship

    A long-term committed couple who may live together or apart and may or may not plan to marry.

  4. 4

    Situationship

    There is closeness, but the status and mutual obligations have not been clearly defined.

  5. 5

    Friends with benefits

    Friendship and sexual intimacy without an expected romantic commitment or shared future.

  6. 6

    Long-distance relationship

    A serious or exclusive relationship between people living in different places.

  7. 7

    Living Apart Together (LAT)

    A committed couple who intentionally maintain separate homes.

Living together

  1. 8

    Cohabitation

    A couple lives together as a family without being legally married.

  2. 9

    Domestic partnership

    A relationship with limited formal recognition that varies by employer and jurisdiction.

  3. 10

    Trial marriage

    A couple lives together to explore compatibility before deciding whether to marry.

Purpose- or role-based relationships

  1. 11

    Provider relationship

    One partner primarily funds the shared lifestyle while both define the other contributions, expectations, and boundaries.

  2. 12

    Sugar relationship

    A more transactional arrangement involving financial support, companionship, and often intimacy.

  3. 13

    Co-parenting partnership

    Two people intentionally plan and raise a child without necessarily forming a romantic couple.

  4. 14

    Companionate relationship

    A relationship centered on friendship, mutual support, shared time, and emotional closeness.

Consensual non-monogamy

  1. 15

    Open relationship

    A primary couple mutually agrees to allow defined romantic or sexual contact with others.

  2. 16

    Polyamory

    Multiple consensual romantic relationships with everyone informed.

  3. 17

    Relationship anarchy

    Each relationship is defined individually without a standard partner hierarchy.

For a long-term partnership

Four practical starting points

Useful options when you want a committed relationship, may want a child, and want to understand compatibility first.

  • Exclusive dating with long-term intentionsexclusive dating with the intention of building a family
  • Committed relationship without immediate marriagea committed couple without pressure to marry right away
  • LAT relationshipa committed relationship while maintaining separate homes
  • Co-parenting partnershipwhen parenthood matters more than forming a romantic couple

Four questions are clearer than one label

Instead of relying on a broad label, clarify four specific expectations:

  • Are we exclusive?
  • Do we plan to live together?
  • Do we want children?
  • Is marriage an eventual goal?

These answers usually reveal intentions more clearly than the labels serious relationship or long-term relationship alone.

According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in July 2022 , 69% of U.S. adults described themselves as partnered: 51% were married, 11% lived with a partner, and 8% were in a committed romantic relationship without marriage or cohabitation.

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