How Many Legislators Does Each State Have Per Capita? Here’s How Massachusetts Stacks Up.

Not all state legislatures are created equal. Some have hundreds of legislators, while others only have a handful. The number of people each legislator actually represents, the per capita amount each state has, varies across the country.

So where does Massachusetts land?

Massachusetts Baseline

The Massachusetts General Court has 200 total legislators, 40 Senators and 160 Representatives. According to the United States Census Bureau, the state population of Massachusetts is 7,154,084 residents. This equates to around 36,000 residents for every legislator (7,200,000 / 200). Each Senator represents about 180,000 residents (7,200,000 / 40) and each Representative represents about 45,000 residents (7,200,000 / 160).

How does that compare to the rest of the country?

State	Population (closest hun thousand)	Total Legislators	Senate	House	Total per capita	Senators per capita	House Members per Capita
New Hampshire	1,400,000	424	24	400	3,302	58,333	3,500
Vermont	600,000	180	30	150	3,333	20,000	4,000
North Dakota	800,000	141	47	94	5,674	17,021	8,511
Wyoming	600,000	93	31	62	6,452	19,355	9,677
Montana	1,100,000	150	50	100	7,333	22,000	11,000
Maine	1,400,000	186	35	151	7,527	40,000	9,272
South Dakota	900,000	105	35	70	8,571	25,714	12,857
Rhode Island	1,100,000	113	38	75	9,735	28,947	14,667
Alaska	700,000	60	20	40	11,667	35,000	17,500
West Virginia	1,800,000	134	34	100	13,433	52,941	18,000
Mississippi	3,000,000	174	52	122	17,241	57,692	24,590
Delaware	1,100,000	62	21	41	17,742	52,381	26,829
Kansas	3,000,000	165	40	125	18,182	75,000	24,000
Hawaii	1,400,000	76	25	51	18,421	56,000	27,451
New Mexico	2,100,000	112	42	70	18,750	50,000	30,000
Idaho	2,000,000	105	35	70	19,048	57,143	28,571
Connecticut	3,700,000	187	36	151	19,786	102,778	24,503
Iowa	3,200,000	150	50	100	21,333	64,000	32,000
Arkansas	3,100,000	135	35	100	22,963	88,571	31,000
Oklahoma	4,100,000	149	48	101	27,517	85,417	40,594
Minnesota	5,800,000	201	67	134	28,856	86,567	43,284
Louisiana	4,600,000	144	39	105	31,944	117,949	43,810
Missouri	6,300,000	197	34	163	31,980	185,294	38,650
South Carolina	5,600,000	170	46	124	32,941	121,739	45,161
Kentucky	4,600,000	138	38	100	33,333	121,053	46,000
Maryland	6,300,000	188	47	141	33,511	134,043	44,681
Utah	3,500,000	104	29	75	33,654	120,690	46,667
Massachusetts	7,200,000	200	40	160	36,000	180,000	45,000
Alabama	5,200,000	140	35	105	37,142	148,571	49,523
Nebraska	2,000,000	49	49	n/a	40,816	40,816	n/a
Wisconsin	6,000,000	132	33	99	45,455	181,818	60,606
Indiana	7,000,000	150	50	100	46,667	140,000	70,000
Oregon	4,300,000	90	30	60	47,778	143,333	71,667
Georgia	11,300,000	236	56	180	47,881	201,786	62,778
Pennsylvania	13,000,000	253	50	203	51,383	260,000	64,039
Nevada	3,300,000	63	21	42	52,381	157,143	78,571
Washington	8,000,000	147	49	98	54,422	163,265	81,633
Tennessee	7,300,000	132	33	99	55,303	221,212	73,737
Colorado	6,000,000	100	35	65	60,000	171,429	92,308
Virginia	8,900,000	140	40	100	63,571	222,500	89,000
North Carolina	11,200,000	170	50	120	65,882	224,000	93,333
Michigan	10,100,000	148	38	110	68,243	265,789	91,818
Illinois	12,700,000	177	59	118	71,751	215,254	107,627
New Jersey	9,500,000	120	40	80	79,167	237,500	118,750
Arizona	7,600,000	90	30	60	84,444	253,333	126,667
Ohio	11,900,000	132	33	99	90,152	360,606	120,202
New York	20,000,000	213	63	150	93,897	317,460	133,333
Florida	23,500,000	160	40	120	146,875	587,500	195,833
Texas	31,700,000	181	31	150	175,138	1,022,581	211,333
California	39,400,000	120	40	80	328,333	985,000	492,500

The range of the number of legislators per capacity is vast. In New Hampshire, there is one legislator for every 3,302 residents. Your legislator may live down the street from you! Whereas, on the other end of the spectrum, there is one legislator for every 328,333 residents in California. Massachusetts stands around the middle at 36,000 residents per total legislators. More legislators means that the state government is more accessible and closer to each resident making democracy far more personal. On the other hand, it also means more cost and harder to get things done.

Bar chart showing the 10 U.S. states with the fewest legislators per capita. California ranks last with 0.30 legislators per 100,000 residents, followed by Texas, Florida, and New York. Data sourced from Ballotpedia and the 2020 U.S. Census.