Wyoming Rule

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The Wyoming Rule is a proposal to increase the size of the United States House of Representatives so that the standard representative-to-population ratio would be that of the smallest state, which is currently Wyoming.[1][2][3] Under Article One of the United States Constitution, each state is guaranteed at least one representative. If the disparity between the population of the most and least populous states continues to grow, the disproportionality of the U.S. House of Representatives will continue to increase unless the body, whose size has been fixed at 435 since 1929, except for a brief period from 1959 to 1963, is expanded.

A total of 547 seats would have been required to implement the Wyoming Rule based on the 2010 United States Census results. However, the decade leading up to the 2020 United States Census saw Wyoming's population increase at a lower rate than that of the rest of the United States; as a result, the required House size to implement the Wyoming Rule will increase to 573. Under the Wyoming Rule, California would gain the most seats with seventeen more members than it will have after the next reapportionment.

While a larger House size will generally result in the smallest and largest districts being proportionally closer in size, this is not always the case. Therefore, in some cases, the Wyoming Rule may actually result in an increase in the ratio of the sizes of the largest and smallest districts. After the 1990 United States Census and with a House size of 435, the largest district (Montana's at-large congressional district) had 799,065 residents, 76.2% larger than the smallest district (Wyoming's at-large congressional district) with 453,588 residents. The Wyoming Rule would have given a House size of 545 in 1990 if the former method of seat apportionment had been used. With that size, the largest district (North Dakota's at-large congressional district) would have had 638,800 residents, 91.8% larger than the smallest districts (Delaware's two districts), at approximately 333,084 residents each.

Legal and constitutional basis for the current House of Representatives size[]

The current size of the House was set by the Reapportionment Act of 1929. This law would need to be repealed and replaced in order to change the number of congressional members, which would require a majority of both houses of Congress to approve it.

From a constitutional standpoint, the only restriction on House size is a limit of one representative per thirty thousand people. Therefore, the Wyoming Rule would be constitutional as long as no state had two or more representatives with a population below 60,000.

Under the 2020 U.S. Census[]

The chart set out below identifies the number of House seats that would be given to the respective states if the Wyoming Rule were to be implemented using the population numbers from the 2020 United States Census.[4]

South Dakota with its two seats and an average of 443,885 people per seat would have the most seats per capita. North Dakota's lone seat (779,702 people per seat) would have the fewest seats per capita. This gives a ratio of 1 to 1.75654 between greatest and smallest number of persons per seat. (By comparison, it will be 1 to 1.82574 for the lone seat of Delaware (990,837 per seat) and Montana's two seats (542,704 per seat).)

States with only one seat which fall short of getting an extra seat in the House include North Dakota, Alaska, and Vermont (and by definition, Wyoming). On the other hand, states with only one seat which manage to secure an extra seat include Delaware and South Dakota.

State Seats apportioned Pop. per seat Seat change Percentage gain Electoral votes
(excluding D.C.) 		Notes
Actual (2023) Wyoming Rule
Alabama 7 9 558,895 +2 29% 11
Alaska 1 1 736,081 0 0% 3
9 12 596,577 +3 33% 14
4 5 602,751 +1 25% 7
California 52 69 573,576 +17 33% 71 Largest gain in seats.
Colorado 8 10 578,217 +2 25% 12
5 6 601,383 +1 20% 8
1 2 495,419 +1 100% 4 Largest proportionate increase
Florida 28 37 582,987 +9 32% 39
14 19 564,488 +5 36% 21
Hawaii 2 3 486,712 +1 50% 5
2 3 613,792 +1 50% 5
Illinois 17 22 582,852 +5 29% 24
Indiana 9 12 565,857 +3 33% 14
4 6 532,068 +2 50% 8
4 5 588,173 +1 25% 7
Kentucky 6 8 563,668 +2 33% 10
6 8 582,684 +2 33% 10
Maine 2 2 681,791 0 0% 4
Maryland 8 11 562,298 +3 38% 13
Massachusetts 9 12 586,122 +3 33% 14
Michigan 13 17 593,202 +4 31% 19
Minnesota 8 10 570,975 +2 25% 12
4 5 592,783 +1 25% 7
8 11 560,026 +3 38% 13
2 2 542,704 0 0% 4
Nebraska 3 3 654,444 0 0% 5 Largest state to not gain an extra seat.
4 5 621,692 +1 25% 7
2 2 689,545 0 0% 4
New Jersey 12 16 580,906 +4 33% 18
New Mexico 3 4 530,055 +1 33% 6
New York 26 35 577,593 +9 35% 37
North Carolina 14 18 580,775 +4 29% 20
North Dakota 1 1 779,702 0 0% 3 Highest population per seat.
Ohio 15 20 590,442 +5 33% 22
5 7 566,217 +2 40% 9
Oregon 6 7 605,929 +1 17% 9
Pennsylvania 17 23 565,732 +6 35% 25
Rhode Island 2 2 549,082 0 0% 4
7 9 569,412 +2 29% 11
1 2 443,885 +1 100% 4 Lowest population per seat.
Smallest state to gain a seat.
9 12 576,408 +3 33% 14
Texas 38 51 572,221 +13 34% 53
4 6 545,875 +2 50% 8
Vermont 1 1 643,503 0 0% 3
Virginia 11 15 576,969 +4 36% 17
Washington 10 13 593,534 +3 30% 15
2 3 598,348 +1 50% 5
8 10 589,747 +2 25% 12
Wyoming 1 1 577,719 0 0% 3
Total 435 573 +138 32% 673 676 total electoral votes including D.C.

Historical House sizes[]

The following table describes how the House of Representatives would have looked historically, had the Wyoming Rule been adopted as part of the Reapportionment Act of 1929, instead of fixing the size at 435 representatives.

Census, Year Size AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY
15th, 1930 1,343 29 – 5 20 62 11 18 3 16 32 – 5 84 35 27 21 29 23 9 18 47 53 28 22 40 6 15 1 5 44 5 138 35 7 73 26 10 106 8 19 8 29 64 6 4 27 17 19 32 2
16th, 1940 1,188 26 – 5 18 63 10 16 2 17 28 – 5 72 31 23 16 26 21 8 17 39 48 25 20 34 5 12 1 4 38 5 122 32 6 63 21 10 90 6 17 6 26 58 5 3 24 16 17 29 2
17th, 1950 936 19 – 5 12 66 8 13 2 17 21 – 4 54 25 16 12 18 17 6 15 29 40 19 14 25 4 8 1 3 30 4 92 25 4 50 14 10 65 5 13 4 21 48 4 2 21 15 13 21 2
18th, 1960 790 14 1 6 8 69 8 11 2 22 17 3 3 44 21 12 10 13 14 4 14 23 35 15 10 19 3 6 1 3 27 4 74 20 3 43 10 8 50 4 11 3 16 42 4 2 18 13 8 17 2
19th, 1970 674 11 1 6 6 66 7 10 2 23 15 3 2 37 17 9 8 11 12 3 13 19 30 13 7 16 2 5 2 3 24 3 61 17 2 35 9 7 39 3 9 2 13 37 4 2 15 11 6 15 1
20th, 1980 562 10 1 7 6 59 7 8 2 24 14 2 2 28 14 7 6 9 10 3 10 14 23 10 6 12 2 4 2 2 18 3 44 15 2 27 8 7 30 2 8 2 11 35 4 1 13 10 5 12 1
21st, 1990 545 9 1 8 5 65 7 7 2 28 14 2 2 25 12 6 5 8 9 3 11 13 20 10 6 11 2 4 3 2 17 3 40 15 1 24 7 6 26 2 8 2 11 37 4 1 14 11 4 11 1
22nd, 2000 569 9 1 10 5 68 9 7 2 32 17 3 3 25 12 6 5 8 9 3 11 13 20 10 6 11 2 3 4 3 17 4 38 16 1 23 7 7 25 2 8 2 12 42 5 1 14 12 4 11 1
23rd, 2010 547 9 1 11 5 66 9 6 2 33 17 2 3 23 12 5 5 8 8 2 10 12 18 9 5 11 2 3 5 2 16 4 34 17 1 20 7 7 23 2 8 2 11 45 5 1 14 12 3 10 1
24th, 2020 573 9 1 12 5 69 10 6 2 37 19 3 3 22 12 6 5 8 8 2 11 12 17 10 5 11 2 3 5 2 16 4 35 18 1 20 7 7 23 2 9 2 12 51 6 1 15 13 3 10 1
Census, Year Size AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY

The smallest state in each census since 1930 were:

  • Nevada (censuses 1930–1950)
  • Alaska (censuses 1960–1980)
  • Wyoming (censuses 1990–2020)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Taylor, Steven L. (December 14, 2010). "Representation in the House: The Wyoming Rule". Outside the Beltway.
  2. ^ Shugart, Matthew Søberg (July 1, 2014). "Economix: Expand the US House". Fruits and Votes.
  3. ^ "Increase the size of the House via the 'Wyoming Rule'". 2005-01-25.
  4. ^ "The Electoral College: Size Really Does Matter". 2020-05-01.
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