2010 Census and the House of Representatives

A few months ago, we ran a story called “What’s Going to Happen to the House of Representatives?” where we looked at 2010 population estimates from Nielsen and made some predictions about likely changes to the House in the 2010 apportionment. Specifically, we predicted “a reduction in Midwest seats and increases in swaths of the west, southwest, and southeast.”

Well, the official numbers are now out. There are 8 states gaining seats: Texas (+4), Florida (+2), Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington (all +1). And there are 10 states losing seats: New York (-2), Ohio (-2), Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania (all -1). Of course, our predictions were based on percent changes in populations rather than absolute growth or shrinkage, but it looks like we weren’t far off!