How do you determine how many representatives a state should have if you know the population?

Answer 1

The quick way, which will get you within 1 of the correct number, is to divide the state population by the population of all 50 states, then multiply the quotient by 435, which is the total number of Representatives.

The way the Census Bureau does it is they start by giving 1 to each state since that is the minimum. Then they list the states in order from most populous to least populous, showing each population and making another column for keeping track of how many House seats are assigned to each state so far. In another column, for each state they keep track of the state population divided by the square root of the product of the number of House seats the state has been assigned so far times one more than that number. They assign a House seat to the state at the top of the list, note the assignment in the proper column, and redo the calculation for that state. Then they sort the list according to those extra numbers that were calculated, from highest to lowest. Then they assign a Rep. to the state that came to the top of the list, redo that state's calculation, and repeat the sort. They continue repeating the assign-calculate-sort pattern until all 435 House seats are assigned. (I wrote an Excel macro that does it really quickly.)

Answer 2

In each of the 50 states, how many voting citizens would count towards one representative?

Answer 3

We determine how many representitives a state has by the population of that state. If you lived in California your state would receive more votes then if you lived in the state of New Jersey.