  The U.S. House of Representatives contains 435 members. This
number is fixed at 435 and does not change as the country gains
population — nor would it change if, for some reason, the United
States were to experience a population decline.  Each individual
state is awarded members of Congress based on its population, or
the total number of people residing there. California is
currently the most populous state, therefore it has 53
representatives in the U.S. House; while states with the lowest
population each have only one representative in the House.
(Alaska, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and
Wyoming are currently the only states that have a single
representative in the House of Representatives.)  Every ten
years, the United States government conducts a census, which
documents current population trends across the country. This
census is then used to revisit and re-factor how many
representatives to the House each state will have. As the
population of some states grows, they will gain represen