Households are divided into general households, collective households, and foreign households. Most households are general households. Collective households, consisting of six or more people who are not relatives living together, include dormitories, nurseries, and nursing homes. Foreign households consist only of foreigners. Due to the large increase in foreign households, the proportion of general households decreased from 98.7 percent in 2010 to 97.4 percent in 2020. In 2020, Ansan-si in Gyeonggi-do (89.5%), Siheung-si in Gyeonggi-do (89.7%), and Guro-gu in Seoul (89.8%) had the lowest ratio of general households at the -si/-gun/-gu area levels. In addition, the ratio of general households is low in the Seoul Metropolitan Area and the industrial regions of other provinces, where many foreigners reside. There are about 16,000 collective households across the nation, accounting for a very low proportion of total households. However, they are highly concentrated in Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, Yeongdong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, and Hampyeong-gun, Jeollanam-do.

Foreign households have been increasing rapidly since the 2000s due to the influx of foreign workers and the change in overseas Korean policies. The number of foreign households increased 2.5 times, from 210,000 households (1.22%) in 2010 to 540,000 households (2.52%) in 2020. The number of -si/-gun/-gu areas with the ratio of foreign households exceeding 2 percent increased from 23 in 2010 to 75 in 2020. The proportion of foreign households exceeds 10 percent in Ansan-si in Gyeonggi-do, Siheung-si in Gyeonggi-do, and Guro-gu in Seoul. The proportion of foreign households is also high in the southwestern part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area, in the Chungcheong region adjacent to the Seoul Metropolitan Area, and in industrial areas in the provinces, such as Yeongam-gun in Jeollanam-do. The proportion of foreign households reached 2.54 percent in 2019 before the net outflow of foreigners occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.