How is the number of seats a state has in the House of Representatives determined?

• A. Equal representation by state
• B. Population
• C. Determined by the majority party at the time the Census is conducted
• D. Two-party vote distribution in the last presidential election

Answer: (B)

Seats in the House are allocated based on population, as measured by the decennial census. Every ten years the Census Bureau counts the number of people in each state, and those counts are used to distribute the 435 voting seats across the states in proportion to their populations. States with more residents receive more seats, while those with fewer residents receive fewer, with every state guaranteed at least one seat. This method is fixed and independent of which party is in power or how people voted in the most recent election. After apportionment, states redraw districts to reflect population shifts, but the total number of seats is set by population, not by political variables.