A group quarters is a place where people live or stay, in a group living arrangement, that is owned or managed by an entity or organization providing housing and/or services for the residents.
This is not a typical household-type living arrangement. These services may include custodial or medical care as well as other types of assistance, and residency is commonly restricted to those receiving these services. People living in group quarters are usually not related to each other.
Group quarters include such places as college residence halls, residential treatment centers, skilled nursing facilities, group homes, military barracks, correctional facilities, and workers’ dormitories.
Institutional group quarters are facilities that house those who are primarily ineligible, unable, or unlikely to participate in the labor force while resident. The institutionalized population is the population residing in institutional group quarters such as adult correctional facilities, juvenile facilities, skilled-nursing facilities, and other institutional facilities such as mental (psychiatric) hospitals and in-patient hospice facilities. The facility types under this category include:
- Correctional facilities for adults
- Juvenile facilities including orphanages, children's homes, and youth development centers
- Nursing homes and skilled nursing centers
- Long term care rehabilitation centers; psychiatric hospitals; institutions for the developmentally disabled or physically handicapped (caretaking facilities)
Noninstitutional group quarters are facilities that house those who are primarily eligible, able, or likely to participate in the labor force while resident. The nonistitutionalized population lives in noninstitutional group quarters such as college/university student housing, military quarters, and other noninstitutional group quarters such as emergency and transitional shelters for people experiencing homelessness and group homes. The facility types under this category include:
- College and university dorms (dorm population as of Fall 2023)
- Military group quarters
- Other non-institutional facilities including adult rehabilitation centers; religious group quarters; homeless shelters; job corps
See https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/technical-documentation/complete-tech-docs/demographic-and-housing-characteristics-file-and-demographic-profile/2020census-demographic-and-housing-characteristics-file-and-demographic-profile-techdoc.pdf for detailed descriptions of these different types.