The Wyoming Rule is a proposal to increase the size of the United States House of Representatives so that the standard representative-to-population ratio would be that of the state with the least population, which is currently Wyoming. Under Article One of the United States Constitution, each state is guaranteed at least one representative. 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 543 seats would have been required to implement the Wyoming Rule based on the 2010 United States census results. However, the decade leading up to the 2020 United States census 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 574. Under the Wyoming Rule, California would gain the most seats with seventeen more members than it will have after the next reapportionment.

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. This law would need to be repealed and replaced in order to change the number of congressional members, which would require a majority of both houses of Congress to approve it.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, which limits the maximum size of Congress to roughly 11,000 representatives.

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 2020 United States census.

South Dakota with its two seats and an average of 443,885 people per seat would have the most seats per capita. North Dakota with its 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 Delaware (990,837 per seat) and Montana's two seats (542,704 per seat).

Of the six states that currently have a single seat, Delaware and South Dakota would gain one seat. The other four—Wyoming, North Dakota, Alaska, and Vermont—would continue to have one seat.

State Seats apportioned Pop. per seat Seat change Percentage gain Electoral votes (excluding D.C.) Notes Actual (2023) Wyoming Rule Alabama 7 9 558,895 +2 29%11 Alaska 1 1 736,081 0 0%3 Arizona 9 12 596,577 +3 33%14 Arkansas 4 5 602,751 +1 25%7 California 52 69 573,576 +17 33%71 Largest gain in seats. Colorado 8 10 578,217 +2 25%12 Connecticut 5 6 601,383 +1 20%8 Delaware 1 2 495,419 +1 100%4 Tied for largest proportionate increase. Florida 28 37 582,987 +9 32%39 Georgia 14 19 564,488 +5 36%21 Hawaii 2 3 486,712 +1 50%5 Idaho 2 3 613,792 +1 50%5 Illinois 17 22 582,852 +5 29%24 Indiana 9 12 565,857 +3 33%14 Iowa 4 6 532,068 +2 50%8 Kansas 4 5 588,173 +1 25%7 Kentucky 6 8 563,668 +2 33%10 Louisiana 6 8 582,684 +2 33%10 Maine 2 2 681,791 0 0%4 Maryland 8 11 562,298 +3 38%13 Massachusetts 9 12 586,122 +3 33%14 Michigan 13 18 560,247 +5 39%20 Minnesota 8 10 570,975 +2 25%12 Mississippi 4 5 592,783 +1 25%7 Missouri 8 11 560,026 +3 38%13 Montana 2 2 542,704 0 0%4 Nebraska 3 3 654,444 0 0%5 Largest state to not gain an extra seat. Nevada 4 5 621,692 +1 25%7 New Hampshire 2 2 689,545 0 0%4 New Jersey 12 16 580,906 +4 33%18 New Mexico 3 4 530,055 +1 33%6 New York 26 35 577,593 +9 35%37 North Carolina 14 18 580,775 +4 29%20 North Dakota 1 1 779,702 00%3 Highest population per seat. Ohio 15 20 590,442 +5 40%22 Oklahoma 5 7 566,217 +2 40%9 Oregon 6 7 605,929 +1 17%9 Pennsylvania 17 23 565,732 +635%25 Rhode Island 2 2 549,082 0 0%4 South Carolina 7 9 569,412 +2 29%11 South Dakota 1 2 443,885 +1 100%4 Lowest population per seat. Smallest state to gain a seat. Tied for largest proportionate increase. Tennessee 9 12 576,408 +3 33%14 Texas 38 51 572,221 +13 34%53 Utah 4 6 545,875 +2 50%8 Vermont 1 1 643,503 0 0%3 Virginia 11 15 576,970 +4 36%17 Washington 10 13 593,534 +3 30%15 West Virginia 2 3 598,348 +1 50%5 Wisconsin 8 10 589,747 +2 25%12 Wyoming 1 1 577,719 0 0%3 Total 435 574 +139 32%674 677 total electoral votes including D.C.

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.

Census, Year SizeALAKAZARCACOCTDEFLGAHIIDILINIAKSKYLAMEMDMAMIMNMSMOMTNENVNHNJNMNYNCNDOHOKORPARISCSDTNTXUTVTVAWAWVWIWY 15th, 1930 1,41831 – 522661219 31734 – 5883829223024 9194956302342 616 1 547 514637 8772811112 820 83067 6 428182034 3 16th, 1940 1,19126 – 518631016 21728 – 5723123162621 8173948252034 512 1 538 512232 663211090 717 62758 5 324161729 2 17th, 1950 94019 – 51266 813 21722 – 4542516121817 6152940191425 4 8 1 330 49325 450141066 513 42148 4 221151322 2 18th, 1960 79314 1 6 870 811 22217 3 3452112101314 4142335151019 3 6 1 327 47420 34310 850 411 31642 4 21813 818 2 19th, 1970 67211 1 6 666 710 22315 3 23717 9 81112 313192913 716 2 5 2 324 36017 235 9 739 3 9 21337 4 21511 615 1 20th, 1980 56710 1 7 659 7 8 22414 2 22914 7 6 911 311142310 612 2 4 2 218 34415 227 8 730 2 8 21236 4 11310 512 1 21st, 1990 549 9 1 8 565 7 7 22914 3 22512 6 6 8 9 311132110 611 2 4 3 217 34015 124 7 626 2 8 21137 4 11411 411 1 22nd, 2000 571 9 110 569 9 7 23217 3 32512 6 5 8 9 311132010 611 2 4 4 317 43816 123 7 725 2 8 21242 5 11412 411 1 23rd, 2010 543 9 111 566 9 6 23317 2 32311 5 5 8 8 2101217 9 511 2 3 5 216 43417 120 7 722 2 8 11145 5 11412 310 1 24th, 2020 574 9 112 56910 6 23719 3 32212 6 5 8 8 211121810 511 2 3 5 216 43518 120 7 723 2 9 21251 6 11513 310 1 Census, Year Size AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY

In the censuses since 1930, the smallest state was: Nevada (censuses 1930–1950) Alaska (censuses 1960–1980) Wyoming (censuses 1990–2020)

Possible effects While expanding the House would reduce the average disparity in district size, it would not necessarily reduce the disparity between the smallest and largest districts. After the 1990 United States census and with a House size of 435, the largest district (Montana) had 803,655 residents, 76.3% larger than the smallest district (Wyoming) with 455,975 residents. The Wyoming Rule would have given a House size of 549 in 1990 if the former method of seat apportionment had been used. With that size, the largest district (North Dakota) would have had 641,364 residents, 91.8% larger than the smallest districts (Delaware's two districts) at 334,348 residents each, due to Delaware having enough population to be split in two but North Dakota falling just on the other side of the threshold.

See also Apportionment Congressional Apportionment Amendment List of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution List of U.S. states and territories by population

References