Underrepresentation in government

[statistics]

Underrepresentation in government

A lot of people have contacted me, since the initial posting of my complaint about the rate of representation of the U.S. Congress, asking for the statistics on which my complaint is based.

All of the statistics on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (http://www.census.gov). Some of the figures on the other pages are from the CIA World Factbook, and are identified as such in the text.

First, a visual version:

The U.S. population has almost tripled, while the size of the Congress has remained static. Here's a convenient table:

Year	Population	Rate of representation
1920	106,021,537	1:243,728
1930	123,202,624	1:283,224
1940	132,164,569	1:303,827
1950	151,325,798	1:347,875
1960	179,323,175	1:412,237
1970	203,302,031	1:467,361
1980	226,542,199	1:520,787
1990	248,709,873	1:571,747
2000	281,421,906	1:646,947

And finally, the whole population of the United States, by state, with approtionment information for 1990 and 2000, showing the changes, etc.

This chart uses the apportionment population, which is not quite the same as the raw population (used in the chart and graph above). The total U.S. apportionment population is about 30 million less than the total raw population. The apportionment population only counts citizens over age 18 not living in the District of Columbia, i.e. people legally entitled to vote for a member of Congress.

Note that the number in the far right-hand column is the number of additional people each member of the House of Representatives from that state represents, compared to 1990.

Even though every state gained population, states marked in green gained representatives following the 2000 census; states in red lost them, because U.S. government is a zero-sum game.

State	1990 app'ment population	2000 app'ment population	Change 1990-2000	Num. of reps. 1990	Num. of reps. 2000	Change 1990-2000	People per rep. 1990	People per rep. 2000	Change 1990-2000
Alabama	4,062,608	4,461,130	398,522	7	7	0	580373	637304	56932
Alaska	551,947	628,933	76,986	1	1	0	551947	628933	76986
Arizona	3,677,985	5,140,683	1,462,698	8	6	+2	612998	642585	29588
Arkansas	2,362,239	2,679,733	317,494	4	4	0	590560	669933	79374
California	29,839,250	33,930,798	4,091,548	53	52	+1	573832	640204	66372
Colorado	3,307,912	4,311,882	1,003,970	7	6	+1	551319	615983	64664
Connecticut	3,295,669	3,409,535	113,866	5	6	-1	549278	681907	132629
Delaware	668,696	785,068	116,372	1	1	0	668696	785068	116372
Florida	13,003,362	16,028,890	3,025,528	25	23	+2	565364	641156	75792
Georgia	6,508,419	8,206,975	1,698,556	13	11	+2	591674	631306	39631
Hawaii	1,115,274	1,216,642	101,368	2	2	0	557637	608321	50684
Idaho	1,011,986	1,297,274	285,288	2	2	0	505993	648637	142644
Illinois	11,466,682	12,439,042	972,360	19	20	-1	573334	654686	81352
Indiana	5,564,228	6,090,782	526,554	9	10	-1	556423	676754	120331
Iowa	2,787,424	2,931,923	144,499	5	5	0	557485	586385	28900
Kansas	2,485,600	2,693,824	208,224	4	4	0	621400	673456	52056
Kentucky	3,698,969	4,049,431	350,462	6	6	0	616495	674905	58410
Louisiana	4,238,216	4,480,271	242,055	7	7	0	605459	640039	34579
Maine	1,233,223	1,277,731	44,508	2	2	0	616612	638866	22254
Maryland	4,798,622	5,307,886	509,264	8	8	0	599828	663486	63658
Massachusetts	6,029,051	6,355,568	326,517	10	10	0	602905	635557	32652
Michigan	9,328,784	9,955,829	627,045	15	16	-1	583049	663722	80673
Minnesota	4,387,029	4,925,670	538,641	8	8	0	548379	615709	67330
Mississippi	2,586,443	2,852,927	266,484	4	5	-1	517289	713232	195943
Missouri	5,137,804	5,606,260	468,456	9	9	0	570867	622918	52051
Montana	803,655	905,316	101,661	1	1	0	803655	905316	101661
Nebraska	1,584,617	1,715,369	130,752	3	3	0	528206	571790	43584
Nevada	1,206,152	2,002,032	795,880	3	2	+1	603076	667344	64268
New Hampshire	1,113,915	1,238,415	124,500	2	2	0	556958	619208	62250
New Jersey	7,748,634	8,424,354	675,720	13	13	0	596049	648027	51978
New Mexico	1,521,779	1,823,821	302,042	3	3	0	507260	607940	100681
New York	18,044,505	19,004,973	960,468	29	31	-2	582081	655344	73263
North Carolina	6,657,630	8,067,673	1,410,043	13	12	+1	554803	620590	65788
North Dakota	641,364	643,756	2,392	1	1	0	641364	643756	2392
Ohio	10,887,325	11,374,540	487,215	18	19	-1	573017	631919	58902
Oklahoma	3,157,604	3,458,819	301,215	5	6	-1	526267	691764	165496
Oregon	2,853,733	3,428,543	574,810	5	5	0	570747	685709	114962
Pennsylvania	11,924,710	12,300,670	375,960	19	21	-2	567843	647404	79560
Rhode Island	1,005,984	1,049,662	43,678	2	2	0	502992	524831	21839
South Carolina	3,505,707	4,025,061	519,354	6	6	0	584285	670844	86559
South Dakota	699,999	756,874	56,875	1	1	0	699999	756874	56875
Tennessee	4,896,641	5,700,037	803,396	9	9	0	544071	633337	89266
Texas	17,059,805	20,903,994	3,844,189	32	30	+2	568660	653250	84590
Utah	1,727,784	2,236,714	508,930	3	3	0	575928	745571	169643
Vermont	564,964	609,890	44,926	1	1	0	564964	609890	44926
Virginia	6,216,568	7,100,702	884,134	11	11	0	565143	645518	80376
Washington	4,887,941	5,908,684	1,020,743	9	9	0	543105	656520	113416
West Virginia	1,801,625	1,813,077	11,452	3	3	0	600542	604359	3817
Wisconsin	4,906,745	5,371,210	464,465	8	9	-1	545194	671401	126207
Wyoming	455,975	495,304	39,329	1	1	0	455975	495304	39329

Totals	249,022,783	281,424,177	32,401,394	435	435	0	572466	646952	74486
State	Population 1990	Population 2000	Change 1990-2000	Num of reps. 1990	Num. of reps. 2000	Change 1990-2000	People per rep. 1990	People per rep. 2000	Change 1990-2000