2012 - 2020 Federal Representation
by People per House Seat, Senate Seat,
and Electors

Sorted by People per Elector

In the wake of Election 2000, there has been a lot of talk about the "unfairness" of the Electoral College. However, the United States is a Republic. Each state receives one Elector for each Senator and one Elector for each Representative it sends to Congress. The District of Columbia has 3 Electors, 0 Senators, and 0 Representatives.

"Each state shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress;..." (Article II, Section. 1. of the Constitution).
"A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State;..." (Amendment XXIII. of the Constitution, ratified March 29, 1961)

If then, there is "unfairness" in the allocation of the Electoral College, there must also be "unfairness" in the allocation of Congress. A minimum one Representative per State, regardless of its population, could also be construed as unfair (note that almost all the States are in the one Congressman per 600 to 700-something thousand range... note the disparities from that re: those States that have 1 Representative which is even more exacerbated with their 3 Electoral Votes).

This page allows you to sort the states alphabetically, by population, and by people per Elector, Senator, and House Member. Note: The Apportionment Population is shown for each state while the Resident Population is used for DC (the apportionment population excludes the population of the District of Columbia).

References:

 
  (sort) (sort)   Sorted by   (sort) (sort) (sort)
Rank State Population Percentage
of
Population		 Electors People
per
Elector		 Senators People
per
Senate
seat		 House
seats		 People
per
House
seat
1California37,341,98912.05%55678,945218,670,99553704,566
2New York19,421,0556.27%29669,69229,710,52827719,298
3Texas25,268,4188.16%38664,958212,634,20936701,901
4Florida18,900,7736.10%29651,75129,450,38727700,029
5Illinois12,864,3804.15%20643,21926,432,19018714,688
6Ohio11,568,4953.73%18642,69425,784,24816723,031
7North Carolina9,565,7813.09%15637,71924,782,89113735,829
8Pennsylvania12,734,9054.11%20636,74526,367,45318707,495
9New Jersey8,807,5012.84%14629,10724,403,75112733,958
10Michigan9,911,6263.20%16619,47724,955,81314707,973
11Virginia8,037,7362.59%13618,28724,018,86811730,703
12Georgia9,727,5663.14%16607,97324,863,78314694,826
13Missouri6,011,4781.94%10601,14823,005,7398751,435
14Massachusetts6,559,6442.12%11596,33123,279,8229728,849
15Indiana6,501,5822.10%11591,05323,250,7919722,398
16Arizona6,412,7002.07%11582,97323,206,3509712,522
17Tennessee6,375,4312.06%11579,58523,187,7169708,381
18Maryland5,789,9291.87%10578,99322,894,9658723,741
19Wisconsin5,698,2301.84%10569,82322,849,1158712,279
20Louisiana4,553,9621.47%8569,24522,276,9816758,994
21Washington6,753,3692.18%12562,78123,376,68510675,337
22Colorado5,044,9301.63%9560,54822,522,4657720,704
23Oregon3,848,6061.24%7549,80121,924,3035769,721
24Kentucky4,350,6061.40%8543,82622,175,3036725,101
25Oklahoma3,764,8821.22%7537,84021,882,4415752,976
26Alabama4,802,9821.55%9533,66522,401,4917686,140
27Minnesota5,314,8791.72%10531,48822,657,4408664,360
28South Carolina4,645,9751.50%9516,21922,322,9887663,711
29Connecticut3,581,6281.16%7511,66121,790,8145716,326
30Iowa3,053,7870.99%6508,96521,526,8944763,447
31Mississippi2,978,2400.96%6496,37321,489,1204744,560
32Arkansas2,926,2290.94%6487,70521,463,1154731,557
33Kansas2,863,8130.92%6477,30221,431,9074715,953
34Utah2,770,7650.89%6461,79421,385,3834692,691
35Nevada2,709,4320.87%6451,57221,354,7164677,358
36New Mexico2,067,2730.67%5413,45521,033,6373689,091
37Idaho1,573,4990.51%4393,3752786,7502786,750
38West Virginia1,859,8150.60%5371,9632929,9083619,938
39Nebraska1,831,8250.59%5366,3652915,9133610,608
40Hawaii1,366,8620.44%4341,7162683,4312683,431
41Maine1,333,0740.43%4333,2692666,5372666,537
42Montana994,4160.32%3331,4722497,2081994,416
43New Hampshire1,321,4450.43%4330,3612660,7232660,723
44Delaware900,8770.29%3300,2922450,4391900,877
45South Dakota819,7610.26%3273,2542409,8811819,761
46Rhode Island1,055,2470.34%4263,8122527,6242527,624
47Alaska721,5230.23%3240,5082360,7621721,523
48North Dakota675,9050.22%3225,3022337,9531675,905
49Vermont630,3370.20%3210,1122315,1691630,337
50District of Columbia601,7230.19%3200,5740 0 
51Wyoming568,3000.18%3189,4332284,1501568,300
Totals309,785,186100.00%538 100 435 
State Average (1)   487,971 3,091,835 712,973
Country Average (2)   575,809 3,091,835 710,767
 

(1) The averages are computed by weighing each state equally. The District of Columbia is included in the Elector compuatations but not in the Senate or House computations.

  • People Per Elector = Sum of (People per Elector) ÷ 51 jurisdictions
  • People Per Senate Seat = Sum of (People per Senate Seat) ÷ 50 jurisdictions
  • People Per House Seat = Sum of (People per House Seat) ÷ 50 jurisdictions

(2) The averages are computed using the total population of country. The District of Columbia is included in the Elector compuatations but not in the Senate or House computations.

  • People Per Elector = Population of 309,785,186 ÷ 538 electors
  • People Per Senate Seat = Population of 309,183,463 ÷ 100 Senate Seats
  • People Per House Seat = Population of 309,183,463 ÷ 435 House Seats
 
 

  United States Census 2010 Home  
 
  State Population and the Distribution of Electoral Votes and Representatives  
  2012 - 2020 Federal Representation by People per House Seat, Senate Seat, and Electors  
 
  An Historical Analysis of the Electoral College  
 
  The Math Behind the 2010 Census Apportionment of Representatives  
  PERL script used to generate the Apportionment