U.S. Census Bureau Releases 2020 Apportionment Numbers

The U.S. Census Bureau released the much-awaited official state population counts resulting in the reapportionment of Congress. The apportionment population is the resident population of all 50 states, with overseas military and federal civilian populations allocated to their home state. It’s the total population for each state as of April 1, 2020.

Which states will gain and lose seats?

Texas will gain the most, with 2 new seats allocated due to its blockbuster population growth the past decade. Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, and Oregon will gain 1 seat. Montana will also gain 1 seat, giving it a total of 2 seats, meaning it will have to district for the first time since the 1980s.

California, despite remaining the most populous state, will lose 1 seat as its population growth hasn’t kept pace with other states. New York, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia will all lose 1 seat. Shockingly, New York only barely lost a seat — with 89 more people counted they would not have lost a seat. Overall, population growth was more sluggish in the past decade than in previous decades, resulting in less change than was widely expected.

What is apportionment?

Congressional apportionment is a process outlined in the constitution that guides how many representatives each state gets in the U.S. House of Representatives. Every ten years, the decennial Census produces the official population for each state and that data is used to reapportion all 435 Congressional seats. Because each of the 50 states is guaranteed one seat no matter how small its population, a formula must be used to apportion the remaining 385 seats. Since the early 20th Century, the U.S. has used the Equal Proportions Method to calculate the number of seats each state will get.

If you’re curious about the reapportionment process, you can learn more about it in our other blogs. In 2019, we wrote about what this might mean for politics. We also mapped which Congressional districts were over-and-under populated as of the latest Census estimates.

Draw districts using updated population data in DistrictBuilder

It’s great to finally see some official numbers from the 2020 Census. And while the redistricting processes won’t formally kick off until the 2020 Census data at the block level is released sometime in August, you can draw districts using the 2010 geographies with recent American Community Survey data in DistrictBuilder right now. Get started drawing your new map.