How Does the U.S. Census Impact the Electoral College?

Every ten years, a census is conducted of the U.S. population. This census is designed to count every person living in the United States — including citizens, non-citizen legal residents, non-citizen long-term visitors, and undocumented immigrants. This count determines apportionment in the U.S. House of Representatives, which directly affects the number of electors that each gets in the Electoral College. The number of electors each state gets is equal to the number of representatives from that state in the U.S. House plus two (the addition of two represents the state’s two U.S. senators).