April 1, 2020 Census
How many states combined have fewer people than California?
State borders shape representation in the Senate. Population alone doesn’t tell you how many seats a group of residents is represented by.
Show me
Further than five: the 21 least-populous states fit below California’s 2020 resident total.
More than fifteen: it takes the 21 least-populous states to get just below California’s 2020 resident total.
You got the population comparison. Now look at the seats those states are allocated.
Resident population
California
39,538,223residents21 states combined
37,174,921residentsShared scale: 0–40,000,000 residents. April 1, 2020 resident counts. The second bar is the combined population of 21 states.
Nearly the same population. A very different number of seats.
Senate seats
California
21 states combined
One chair represents one allocated Senate seat, not a current officeholder. Counts: 2 for California; 42 for the 21-state group.
Both measures, side by side. Different units; separate scales.
See the numbers
| Measure | Group | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resident population | California | 39,538,223 | residents |
| Resident population | 21 states combined | 37,174,921 | residents |
| Senate seats | California | 2 | seats |
| Senate seats | 21 states combined | 42 | seats |
The 21 least-populous states, combined. They get 42 Senate seats. California gets 2.
In the 2020 Census, California had 39,538,223 residents. The 21 least-populous states had 37,174,921 combined—about 2.36 million fewer. Those states are allocated 42 U.S. Senate seats; California is allocated two.
This compares resident populations and allocated Senate seats using a fixed 2020 snapshot. It is not a count of eligible voters, a current population estimate, or a measure of an individual vote’s power. House representation follows a different system.
Checked 2026-10-04 · Data: April 1, 2020 Census
The receipts
California versus the 21 least-populous U.S. states in the April 1, 2020 Census. Ranked among the 50 states; D.C. and Puerto Rico are excluded because this comparison concerns state Senate representation.
Rank the 50 states by 2020 resident population and sum ranks 50 through 30: Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, West Virginia, Idaho, Nebraska, New Mexico, Kansas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Nevada, Iowa, Utah. Their total is 37,174,921; California has 39,538,223. Adding Connecticut, the next state, brings the total to 40,780,865, exceeding California. Thus 21 is the largest group of least-populous states whose combined population is below California’s. Seat allocation: 21 × 2 = 42 versus 1 × 2 = 2. The population bars share a zero-based 0–40 million resident scale. The seat objects use a separate literal count: one chair per allocated seat.
Denominator: Resident totals for California and the combined 21-state group, not eligible voters. Seat counts are allocated seats for each group: one state versus 21 states. No individual voting-power ratio is calculated.