File:USHouseStructure2012-2022 SeatsByState.png
Summary
Diagram of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_House_of_Representatives" class="extiw" title="w:US House of Representatives">US House of Representatives</a> showing all 435 voting seats grouped by state. Largest-to-smallest states are shown in a generally left-to-right clockwise flow.
- The 9 largest states have a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/majority" class="extiw" title="w:majority">majority</a> of the seats/votes, with the other 41 having less than half.
- The four largest states (CA, TX, NY & FL) have more combined votes than 34 of the smallest states.
- California by itself has more votes than 21 of the smallest states combined.
- Texas by itself has more votes than 17 of the smallest states put together.
These facts can be understood as a straightforward matter of larger populations requiring a greater number of seats to represent them, per the principles of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/representative_democracy" class="extiw" title="w:representative democracy">representative democracy</a>. What this image also illuminates is the converse situation, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apportionment_(politics)#Senate" class="extiw" title="w:Apportionment (politics)">problem of the Senate</a>, where states are given two votes each regardless of the number of people that a single Senator represents. At the time the Senate was created, the most populous state (Virginia) had roughly 10 times as many people as the least populous state (Delaware). This imbalance has been greatly magnified to the current situation where the most populous state today (California) has nearly 70 times as many people as the least populous state (Wyoming). See <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malapportionment#Malapportionment" class="extiw" title="w:Malapportionment">Malapportionment</a>. This Washington Post article from 2013 has <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/03/population_senate_take_two.png">a graph</a> that shows how grossly imbalanced the Senate representation is:
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/03/11/if-youre-from-california-you-should-hate-the-senate/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/03/11/if-youre-from-california-you-should-hate-the-senate/</a>.
Seat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_apportionment" class="extiw" title="w:United States congressional apportionment">apportionment</a> presented in this diagram can be verified at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population#States_and_territories" class="extiw" title="w:List of U.S. states and territories by population">this table</a>.
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File history
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| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 10:20, 3 January 2017 | | 2,000 × 1,053 (417 KB) | 127.0.0.1 (talk) | Diagram of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_House_of_Representatives" class="extiw" title="w:US House of Representatives">US House of Representatives</a> showing all 435 voting seats grouped by state. Largest-to-smallest states are shown in a generally left-to-right clockwise flow. <p>- The 9 largest states have a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/majority" class="extiw" title="w:majority">majority</a> of the seats/votes, with the other 41 having less than half. </p> <p>- The four largest states (CA, TX, NY & FL) have more combined votes than 34 of the smallest states. </p> <p>- California by itself has more votes than 21 of the smallest states combined. </p> <p>- Texas by itself has more votes than 17 of the smallest states put together. </p> <p>These facts can be understood as a straightforward matter of larger populations requiring a greater number of seats to represent them, per the principles of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/representative_democracy" class="extiw" title="w:representative democracy">representative democracy</a>. What this image also illuminates is the converse situation, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apportionment_(politics)#Senate" class="extiw" title="w:Apportionment (politics)"><i>problem of the Senate</i></a>, where states are given two votes each regardless of the number of people that a single Senator represents. At the time the Senate was created, the most populous state (Virginia) had roughly 10 times as many people as the least populous state (Delaware). This imbalance has been greatly magnified to the current situation where the most populous state today (California) has nearly 70 times as many people as the least populous state (Wyoming). See <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malapportionment#Malapportionment" class="extiw" title="w:Malapportionment">Malapportionment</a>. This Washington Post article from 2013 has <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/03/population_senate_take_two.png">a graph</a> that shows how grossly imbalanced the Senate representation is:<br><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/03/11/if-youre-from-california-you-should-hate-the-senate/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/03/11/if-youre-from-california-you-should-hate-the-senate/</a>. </p> Seat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_congressional_apportionment" class="extiw" title="w:United States congressional apportionment">apportionment</a> presented in this diagram can be verified at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population#States_and_territories" class="extiw" title="w:List of U.S. states and territories by population">this table</a>. |
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