Oregon Office of Economic Analysis

The Census Bureau will release the first set of data at a news conference Tuesday, December 21 at 11 a.m. EST. The data released will include the resident population for the nation and the states as well as the congressional apportionment totals for each state.

Apportionment is the process of dividing the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the 50 states. Decennial census enumeration serves the basis for the division of seats. Each of the 50 state gets one seat in the House regardless of the population size. Remaining 385 seats are apportioned based on the formula to ensure equal representation for all.

If population in all the states grew by the same rate, there would be no change in the existing number of Representatives by state. Due to the differential population growth rates by state, 12 seats were reassigned following the 2000 Census.