Criteria for congressional districts

2020 Congress       2020 State Legislature

2010 Congress         2010 State Legislature

The table below shows the different criteria that redistricting bodies in the 2020 redistricting cycle will consider when they draw congressional lines, and the state law sources for those criteria.

In most states, these standards must be followed only as closely “as is practicable,” leaving substantial flexibility to the redistricting body—but in some states, state law is more specific or more constraining.  The links lead to the specific legal provisions, and more information is available in the writeup for each state—just click on the state’s name.

In every state, these standards are always subordinate to federal equal population limits and to the federal Voting Rights Act.

A blank space indicates that the state does not have a particular legal provision on the issue in question, at least as far as I am aware.