A housing unit is occupied if it is the usual place of residence of the person or group of people living in it at the time of enumeration or if the occupants are only temporarily absent; that is, away on vacation or business. The occupants may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more families living together, or any other group of related or unrelated people who share living quarters.

Occupied rooms or suites of rooms in hotels, motels, and similar places are classified as housing units only when occupied by permanent residents; that is, people who consider the hotel as their usual place of residence or who have no usual place of residence elsewhere.

If any of the occupants in rooming or boarding houses, congregate housing, or continuing care facilities live separately from others in the building and have direct access, their quarters are classified as separate housing units.

The living quarters occupied by staff personnel within any group quarters are separate housing units if they satisfy the housing unit criteria of separateness and direct access; otherwise, they are considered group quarters.