# Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 The Act of June 18, 1929 (codified at 2 U.S.C. § 2a) froze the size of the U.S. House of Representatives at **435** and made reapportionment **automatic** after each census. Before it, Congress passed a new apportionment act every decade and usually enlarged the House so that no state lost a seat. ## Why it exists The 435 figure dates to the Apportionment Act of 1911. After the **1920 census**, Congress did not reapportion at all, the only decade in American history it failed to. The 1920 count showed that the country had become majority-urban, and rural members refused to transfer seats to the growing industrial cities, many of them immigrant-heavy. The 1929 Act ended the stalemate by taking the decision away from Congress. Once each census is done, the President transmits the state populations and the seat allocation follows by formula, with no vote. In 1941 Congress fixed the formula as the **[[Method of Equal Proportions]]** (Huntington–Hill), which is still in use. The House briefly went to 437 when Alaska and Hawaii were admitted, then returned to 435 in 1963. ## Why it matters now - **The base is zero-sum.** With the seat total fixed, a state gains only if another loses. Every person added to or removed from one state's count moves priority to another. That turns the question of who is counted into a fight over seats ([[How the Census Apportions Congress]], [[2030 Census Residence Rule]]). - **Districts keep growing.** The average district has grown from about 210,000 people in 1910 to **761,169** after the [[2020 Census]]. A House of fixed size in a growing country gives each member more constituents every decade. - **It is only a statute.** A simple majority could change 435. Proposals include the [[Wyoming Rule]], which ties district size to the least-populous state, and reviving the never-ratified [[Congressional Apportionment Amendment]] of 1789. No proposal has come close to passing. Expanding the House would also expand the Electoral College, which is why the cap has partisan stakes that both parties calculate. ## See also - [[How the Census Apportions Congress]] · [[Method of Equal Proportions]] · [[Apportionment]] - [[2020 Census]] · [[2030 Census]] · [[2030 Census Residence Rule]] · [[Utah v. Evans]] - [[Wyoming Rule]] · [[Congressional Apportionment Amendment]] · [[Electoral College]]