A recent report from the Congressional Research Service breaks down the 111th U.S. Congress by party affiliation, age and length of service, among several characteristics.
Democrats account for more than half of the seats in both chambers and have two independents in the Senate that caucus with them, the research service reported.
The average age of members of both chambers is 58 years old, with a slightly younger average for members of the House (57.2 years old) as compared to the Senate (63.1 years old).
Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., is the youngest member of the House, at 28, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is the youngest Senator, at 42. Per Constitution guideline, members of the House must be at least 25 years old and Senators must be at least 30 years old.
There's a good half century or more separating the youngest members from the oldest.
The oldest member of the House, Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas, is 86, and Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., is 92. Byrd took his seat in the Senate on January 3, 1959, and "has served longer (51 years) than any other Senator in history," according to the report.
The average member of the House has been in office for 11 years, or five and a half terms, while the average Senator has been in office for 12.9 years, or a little over two terms.
In all, "Congress is composed of 541 individuals from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands," according to the report.
The breakdown incudes the 100 members of the Senate (two from every state) and 441 from the House of Representatives.
While the House's 435 seats are parceled out among the states based on population after every census, the six remaining seats are filled by non-voting members from the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories mentioned above, according to the Clerk of the House.
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