In the last century, Maryland and Virginia residents have had to share their congressmen with more and more people as the states’ populations have jumped but their number of U.S. representatives has not. And with the national population shifts, neither state appears to be in line for more U.S. representatives, although Maryland’s population grew 9 percent and Virginia’s 13 percent in the past 10 years.
Maryland’s population has more than doubled since the state last received additional congressional representation in 1960, and Virginia’s has increased by nearly one-third since 1990, when it won an additional member of Congress. Each state averages higher than the national average 710,767 people per U.S. representative.
Maryland ranks 19th highest in the country for the number of constituents each of its eight representatives serves. More than 725,000 people are represented by each member of Congress, more than an 86 percent increase since 1960.
Maryland representatives’ constituent base has more than tripled in the last century.
Virginia ranks 16th highest in the number of constituents its 11 representatives serve, with 730,703 people per congressman. That’s a 29 percent increase in residents per representative since an additional congressman was shifted to the state in 1990.
Since 1910, Virginia representatives’ constituent base has grown by more than 3 1/2 times. However, with the national population shift south and Virginia’s more booming growth, it is more likely than Maryland to get a new representative in the next census.
Congress last increased its seats in 1913 to 435, according to the Census Bureau.
