Azavea, a geospatial software firm, conducted a study to examine how redistricting reshaped the geography of U.S. congressional districts. The report assesses the compactness of each district, identifying ones with unusual shapes and twisting boundary lines.
Every 10 years, state legislatures, legislative commissions or separate bodies are tasked with drawing new boundary lines after the decennial census. Courts also occasionally intervene, but typically only in civil rights cases.
The Azavea analysis evaluates geographic compactness of each district using four different formulas. The Polsby-Popper ratio, generally the most widely cited metric, and Schwartzberg ratio measure the perimeter and indentation of a district. These measures essentially compare how closely an area resembles a circle to determine compactness. The two other metrics Azavea used – the Convex Hull and Reock ratios – assess how well dispersed districts are.
It's the less compact districts that are often deemed to be gerrymandered.
The firm noted, though, that a state's geography and coastal boundaries also affect compactness. Azavea tried to control for this, but acknowledged natural geographic boundaries do play a role in districts' compactness. In addition, states with only a few congressional districts also tend to have lower average compactness scores.
The table below shows Azavea's average district compactness for all states having more than one district, with lower ratios (multiplied by 100) representing the least compact districts:
State
Districts
Polsby-Popper
Schwartzberg
Convex Hull
Reock
Alabama
7
18.43
42.41
69.20
37.70
Arkansas
4
19.89
43.98
68.49
38.87
Arizona
9
30.05
53.30
74.82
45.21
California
53
22.58
46.86
72.64
38.47
Colorado
7
24.60
48.00
69.77
39.12
Connecticut
5
26.61
50.94
71.85
42.19
Florida
27
24.61
48.18
69.24
36.93
Georgia
14
25.83
50.46
75.50
44.07
Hawaii
2
8.56
29.10
67.58
36.85
Iowa
4
39.97
62.92
78.02
44.13
Idaho
2
25.01
49.51
77.41
37.69
Illinois
18
16.64
39.91
61.03
31.07
Indiana
9
41.03
63.59
81.73
44.07
Kansas
4
40.52
62.92
83.05
41.10
Kentucky
6
19.21
42.81
68.82
37.16
Louisiana
6
11.10
32.14
59.53
32.14
Massachusetts
9
18.45
41.74
63.19
35.85
Maryland
8
8.08
27.67
49.63
24.68
Maine
2
14.04
37.04
72.83
36.62
Michigan
14
26.03
49.38
69.73
35.10
Minnesota
8
33.03
56.85
76.80
40.88
Missouri
8
27.08
51.49
75.25
44.60
Mississippi
4
23.33
47.58
76.84
38.08
North Carolina
13
11.51
32.17
59.62
29.46
Nebraska
3
39.27
62.54
83.73
46.54
New Hampshire
2
16.45
40.53
67.53
23.81
New Jersey
12
18.96
42.92
63.71
38.92
New Mexico
3
35.17
59.07
78.36
44.36
Nevada
4
52.44
72.22
89.20
48.12
New York
27
31.81
55.24
73.53
40.35
Ohio
16
17.22
39.91
63.74
33.79
Oklahoma
5
24.98
49.91
68.58
36.00
Oregon
5
31.15
56.06
75.28
42.43
Pennsylvania
18
17.14
39.52
62.42
34.15
Rhode Island
2
20.14
42.35
62.42
26.38
South Carolina
7
20.50
43.85
72.91
37.42
Tennessee
9
20.48
44.68
70.48
40.20
Texas
36
19.17
42.09
67.35
36.12
Utah
4
27.65
52.28
69.17
34.18
Virginia
11
14.42
37.28
67.58
27.89
Washington
10
21.19
44.74
71.39
34.00
Wisconsin
8
21.85
47.58
75.64
44.43
West Virginia
3
13.65
36.66
54.76
32.29
The report also identified the 10 least compact congressional districts, shown in the following map: NC-12, FL-5, MD-3, OH-9, TX-35, NC-4, LA-2, FL-22, MD-6 and NY-10.
New Hampshire lacks the ethnic diversity of a Florida or Nevada, or the blue-collar clout of Ohio or Wisconsin. And though it's as fiercely contested as the other eight or so battlegrounds in terms of ground game and ad saturation, it's seen comparatively little of the presidential candidates.
The court reversed a January lower federal court ruling that threatened to upend an incumbent-friendly redistricting map.
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