The Wyoming Rule is a proposal to increase the size of the United States House of Representatives

United States congressional apportionment

United States congressional apportionment is the process by which seats in the United States House of Representatives are redistributed amongst the 50 states following each constitutionally mandated decennial census. Each state is apportioned a number of seats which approximately corresponds to its...

 so that the standard Representative-to-population ratio would be that of the smallest entitled unit, which is currently Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

. Under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, each U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 is guaranteed at least one Representative. If the disparity between the population of the most and least populous states continues to grow, the disproportionality of the House will continue to increase unless the House is expanded. A House size of 569 would be required to implement the Wyoming Rule, based on the 2000 Census results. However, the 2010 United States Census saw Wyoming's population increase by a greater percentage than the U.S. as a whole; as a result, the required House size to implement the Wyoming Rule was reduced to 547.

See also

• United States Constitution
  United States Constitution
  The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
  
  
• Article One of the United States Constitution
  Article One of the United States Constitution
  Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The Article establishes the powers of and limitations on the Congress, consisting of a House of Representatives composed of Representatives, with each state gaining or...
  
  
• United States congressional apportionment
  United States congressional apportionment
  United States congressional apportionment is the process by which seats in the United States House of Representatives are redistributed amongst the 50 states following each constitutionally mandated decennial census. Each state is apportioned a number of seats which approximately corresponds to its...
  
  
• United States House of Representatives
  United States House of Representatives
  The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
  
  
• List of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution
• List of U.S. states and territories by population
• Apportionment
  Apportionment (politics)
  Apportionment is the process of allocating political power among a set of principles . In most representative governments, political power has most recently been apportioned among constituencies based on population, but there is a long history of different approaches.The United States Constitution,...