A group of two or more related or unrelated people who usually reside in the same dwelling, and who make common provision for food or other essentials for living; or a single person living in a dwelling who makes provision for his or her own food and other essentials for living, without combining with any other person.

Together with family, household is considered one of the basic groups of social aggregation. Information on household numbers and composition aids in identifying groups within the population such as Indigenous households or the number of people living alone.

For housing data collections, the number of tenancy agreements is a practical proxy for calculating the number of households receiving housing assistance.

The persons in the group may pool their incomes and have a common budget to a greater or lesser extent: they may be related or unrelated persons, or a combination of both.

Only usual residents of the household are included as members of the household. Visitors to a household are, by definition, excluded from the household.

CSHA Public rental housing data manual 2001-02