The Wyoming Rule is a proposal to increase the

size Size in general is the magnitude or dimensions of a thing. More specifically, ''geometrical size'' (or ''spatial size'') can refer to linear dimensions ( length, width, height, diameter, perimeter), area, or volume. Size can also be m ...

of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

so that the standard representative-to-population ratio would be that of the smallest state, which is currently

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

. Under Article One of the United States Constitution, each

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

is guaranteed at least one

representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

. 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 The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...

results. However, the decade leading up to the

2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

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 California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

would gain the most seats with seventeen more members than it will have after the next reapportionment. While expanding the House would reduce some disparities in district size, it would not necessarily result in the smallest and largest districts being proportionally closer. After the 1990 United States Census and with a House size of 435, the largest district (

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

) had 799,065 residents, 76.2% larger than the smallest 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 North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

) would have had 638,800 residents, 91.8% larger than the smallest districts (Delaware's two districts) at approximately 333,084 residents each, due to

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

having enough population to be split in two but North Dakota falling just on the other side of the threshold.

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 The Reapportionment Act of 1929 (ch. 28, , ), also known as the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929, is a combined census and apportionment bill enacted on June 18, 1929, that establishes a permanent method for apportioning a constant 435 seats ...

. 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 that there can be at most 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

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

with its two seats and an average of 443,885 people per seat would have the most seats per capita.

'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

(990,837 per seat) and

's two seats (542,704 per seat).) States with only one seat which fall short of getting an extra seat in the House include

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

, and

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

(and by definition,

). On the other hand, states with only one seat which manage to secure an extra seat include

and

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. The smallest state in each census since 1930 were: * Nevada (censuses 1930–1950) * Alaska (censuses 1960–1980) * Wyoming (censuses 1990–2020)

References

{{reflist Electoral reform in the United States United States House of Representatives United States Electoral College United States congressional districts Voting theory

Legal and constitutional basis for the current House of Representatives size

Under the 2020 U.S. Census

Historical House sizes

See also

References