	Background

The Census Bureau's release of the first figures from the 2010 Census on December 21, 2010, shifted 12 seats among 18 states for the 113 th Congress (beginning in January 2013). The reapportionment of House seats in 2010 was based on an apportionment population that is different from the actual resident population of each state. Table 2 displays the end of the "priority list" that would be used to allocate Representatives based on the 2012 Census estimates of the state populations as of July 1. Altering the size of the House would require a new law setting a different limit. The Redistricting Process

The apportionment figures released on December 21, 2010, are made up of three components: total resident population figures for the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the foreign-based military and overseas federal employees allocated to each state and DC, and the sum of these numbers (excluding DC), which becomes the apportionment population. Such data, however, are available from the results of the American Community Survey for geographic areas with populations as small as 20,000 persons. These special political jurisdiction counts enable the persons drawing the district lines to assess past voting behavior when redrawing congressional and state legislative districts.
On December 21, 2010, the Commerce Department released 2010 Census population figures and the resulting reapportionment of seats in the House of Representatives. The apportionment population of the 50 states in 2010 was 309,183,463, a figure 9.9% greater than in 2000. Just as in the 108th Congress, 12 seats shifted among 18 states in the 113th Congress as a result of the reapportionment. The next census data release was February 2011, when the Census Bureau provided states the small-area data necessary to re-draw congressional and state legislative districts in time for the 2012 elections.
This report examines the distribution of seats based on the most recent estimates of the population of the states (as of July 1, 2012). It explores the question of, what, if any, would be the impact on the distribution of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives if the apportionment were conducted today, using the most recent official U.S. Census population figures available.
The report will be updated as is deemed necessary.