Electoral College Table
| State | EV | Running total | % of 270 |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 54 | 54 | 20.0% |
| Texas | 40 | 94 | 34.8% |
| Florida | 30 | 124 | 45.9% |
| New York | 28 | 152 | 56.3% |
| Pennsylvania | 19 | 171 | 63.3% |
| Illinois | 19 | 190 | 70.4% |
| Ohio | 17 | 207 | 76.7% |
| Georgia | 16 | 223 | 82.6% |
| North Carolina | 16 | 239 | 88.5% |
| Michigan | 15 | 254 | 94.1% |
| New Jersey | 14 | 268 | 99.3% |
| Virginia | 13 | 281 | 104.1% |
Winning the US presidency takes 270 electoral votes out of 538, and those votes are distributed by state under the most recent congressional apportionment: California carries 54, Texas 40, New York 28, and the seven smallest states plus DC carry just 3 each. Pick any state and the lookup shows its votes, its share of the 270 threshold, and what it could theoretically swing.
The table below also stacks the cumulative math, because the shape of the map is the story: the eleven largest states hold 268 votes - two short of victory - and crossing 270 takes a twelfth state no matter which way the map breaks. The allocation in force now comes from the 2020 census and covers the 2024 through 2028 elections; the numbers shift only after the next census in 2030.
How to use
- Pick a state - the lookup shows its electoral votes, its share of the 270 needed, and its rank among the 51 jurisdictions.
- Read the cumulative column in the table as the map's shape: the big states pile up fast, the tail of 3-vote states never does.
- Remember the unit is winner-take-all in 48 states plus DC - the statewide popular vote winner takes every electoral vote, except in Maine and Nebraska.
Frequently asked questions
Why are there 538 electoral votes?
Because the total is the whole Congress plus three: 435 House seats, 100 Senate seats, and the District of Columbia's 3 votes added by the 23rd Amendment in 1961. Every state gets its House delegation plus its two senators; DC got the same treatment without becoming a state. The House size has been fixed at 435 since 1913, which is what keeps the total stable at 538.
Why is 270 the number to win?
A majority of 538 is 270 - one more than half. If no candidate reaches it, the election goes to the House of Representatives under the 12th Amendment, where each state's delegation casts one vote among the top three finishers. That happened in 1800 and 1824; a modern 269-269 tie is the scenario everyone's map-watching is really about.
Which states split their electoral votes?
Only Maine and Nebraska, which award one electoral vote per congressional district and two statewide, rather than winner-take-all. It matters in principle more than in practice: the split has actually differed from a clean sweep only a handful of times, most famously in 2008 when Nebraska's 2nd district went for Obama while McCain took the statewide vote.
Do electoral votes change between elections?
Only after a census. The current allocation follows the 2020 census apportionment and covers the 2024, 2026 and 2028 elections; Texas, Florida and other growth states gained at the expense of New York, California and the Rust Belt compared with the decade before. The next reallocation comes from the 2030 census and first applies in the 2032 election.
Can a candidate win the popular vote and lose the election?
Yes - it happened in 2000 and 2016, and the mechanism is structural: winner-take-all allocation means narrow wins in many small states can beat a landslide in a few large ones, and every state's two senate-based electors weight small states above their population. That is not a glitch in the table below; it is the design the table encodes, and why campaigns fight for swing states instead of national vote totals.