Representation
Historically, representatives were apportioned by town. For the first 150 persons, one representative was granted, and this ratio increased as the population of the town increased. The largest membership of the House was 749 in 1812 (214 of these being from the District of Maine); the largest House without Maine was 635 in 1837. The original distribution was changed to the current regional population system in the 20th century. Until 1978, there were 240 members of the house, a number in multi-member districts; today there are 160 in single-member districts.
Today, each Representative represents about 40,000 residents. Their districts are named for the counties they are in and tend to stay within one county, although districts occasionally cross county lines. Representative serve two year terms which are not limited.
Read more about this topic: Massachusetts House Of Representatives