About the Redistricting Process

Every ten years, the country conducts a census to count every person in the United States. Census counts are used by state and local officials to redraw congressional, legislative, and local boundaries to account for population shifts. This process is called “redistricting.” The Texas Demographic Center is not involved in the redistricting process, as this is a legislative process. The Texas Legislative Council is the primary resource that assists lawmakers regarding the redistricting process.

Redistricting is the revision or replacement of existing electoral districts, resulting in new districts with different geographical boundaries. The Texas Legislature has the responsibility to redistrict the Texas Senate, Texas House, Texas congressional, and State Board of Education (SBOE) districts following the publication of each United States decennial census. Specific requirements govern the redistricting process, but the basic purpose of decennial redistricting is to balance increases or decreases in the population over the previous decade among electoral districts using the Public Law 94-171 dataset, also known as the Decennial Census dataset. The following Texas Legislative Council sources provide the most up-to-date information about the redistricting process in Texas.

The Texas Redistricting Website provides updates about legislative redistricting activity, information about current districts, an overview of the redistricting process, legal requirements, and the history of redistricting in Texas.

The DistrictViewer website provides interactive maps with population and voter data for the current state senate, state house, Texas congressional, and SBOE districts and proposals considered during the redistricting process.

The Capitol Data Portal provides public access to the same geographic, population, and election datasets that are prepared for use in the legislature's redistricting systems. The site also serves as a repository for maps, reports, and data related to the most recent district plans and proposals, and it includes historical information for plans and proposals from the previous redistricting cycle.

For more information, contact the Texas Legislative Council Redistricting and Data Section at (512) 463‐6622.