What You Should Know About Apportionment

Every 10 years, population counts from the decennial census determine how many seats each state gets in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Apportionment is the process of distributing the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the 50 states. 

The 2020 Census population counts used for apportionment include the number of people who live in each state, plus overseas military and federal civilian employees and their families living with them who can be allocated back to their home state.

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Visualizing the First 2020 Census Results

The Historical Apportionment Data Map has been updated to display apportionment results for each census from 1910 to 2020. 

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May 7th: Live Twitter Chat About Apportionment

The Census Bureau is hosting a live Twitter chat on May 7, 2021, at 1 p.m. ET to answer your questions about what apportionment is and how it relates to the census.

To submit questions ahead of time, leave a comment on our Facebook event page with the hashtag #CensusChats. We also encourage you to ask questions during the live Twitter chat.

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About the 2020 Census

The U.S. Constitution mandates that a census of the population be conducted once every 10 years. Census data helps determine the number of seats each state holds in Congress and how billions of dollars in funding are distributed to states and local communities every year for services and infrastructure, including health care, jobs, schools, roads and bridges.