The U.S. Census Bureau today released a report outlining 2020 Census population results used to determine each state’s share of congressional seats for the next decade until the 2030 Census.
While the apportionment results were released in April 2021, this report provides written context of trends in congressional apportionment, makeup of the apportionment population, distribution of seats among the states and the method used for calculation.
As of April 1, 2020, the U.S. apportionment population was 331,108,434, an increase of 7.1% over the 2010 Census count of 309,183,463. The apportionment population consists of the resident population of the 50 states including overseas federal employees (military and civilian) and their dependents living with them. The U.S. Constitution requires the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to be apportioned, or distributed, among the states every 10 years based on state population counts in the decennial census.
Congress has apportioned seats based on every decennial census (other than 1920) from 1790 to 2020. For detailed tables and data on apportionment from previous censuses, visit the Apportionment webpage. This report is part of series of 2020 Census briefs.