U.S. flag
              An official website of the United States government Skip to main content   end of header History
 You are here: Census.gov ›
  History ›
  Reference › Apportionment Skip top of page navigation
 History Main
      Agency History
        Director Biographies
          Census Facilities
          Suitland, MD
          Notable Alumni
      Innovations
        Data Collection
          Technology
      Programs
        Agriculture
          Demographic
          Housing
          Economic
          Geography
          Governments
      Through the Decades
        Fast Facts
          Overview
          Index of Questions
          Questionnaires
          Census Instructions
      Genealogy
        Decennial Census Records
          Other Resources
      Reference
        Data@Museums
          Artifacts
          Lesson Plans
          Legislation
          Maps
          Oral Histories
          Privacy & Confidentiality
          Apportionment
          Publications
 Home Page Archive
        2024
          2023
          2022
          2021
          2020
          2019
          2018
          2017
          2016
          2015
          2014    
      FAQs
        Genealogy
          Agency History
          Demographic
          Economic
          Governments
          Agriculture
          Geography
          Innovations
          Miscellaneous
  In this Section: Methods of Apportionment
  Apportionment Legislation 1890 - Present
  Apportionment Legislation 1840 - 1880
  Apportionment Legislation 1790 - 1830
 Apportionment 2010 apportionment mapView larger imageApportionment of the U.S. House of Representativesbased on the 2010 Census Apportionment is one of the most important functions of the decennial census.  Apportionment measures the population so that seats in the U.S. House of Representatives can be correctly apportioned among the states.  Until the middle of the twentieth century, Congress enacted new apportionment legislation following almost every census. The Constitution does not specify a certain method of apportionment.  Almost as soon as the first census was completed in 1790, political thinkers, including Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, began suggesting their own methods.  The plans generally differed according to whether they favored the large or small states in post-census allocation of representatives.  This disagreement over method of apportionment resurfaced every ten years until a permanent method was set following the 1940 census. In this section, you'll find a collection of legislation dealing with apportionment, as well as an explanation of the methods of apportionment that have been used to allocate seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Read more about the history of apportionment in a draft paper H. Peyton Young delivered during a March 2004 Census Bureau symposium, Fairness in Apportionment [PDF 917 KB].
 
 CONNECT WITH US

Information Quality
                    Data Linkage Infrastructure
                    Data Protection and Privacy Policy
                    Accessibility      
                    FOIA
                    Inspector General
                    No FEAR Act
                    U.S. Department of Commerce
                    USA.gov
                   Measuring America's People, Places, and Economy