How Free Is Your State?
Florida is the freest state, while New York is, by far, the least free in the nation…
The latest edition of Freedom in the 50 States — authored by William Ruger and Jason Sorens — looks at state and local government intervention across a range of more than 230 policy variables — from taxation to debt, eminent domain laws to occupational licensing, and drug policy to educational choice — and ranks each U.S. state by how its public policies promote freedom in the fiscal, regulatory, and personal freedom spheres.
Ruger and Sorens score all 50 states on their overall respect for individual freedom, and also on their respect for three separate dimensions of freedom: fiscal policy and regulatory policy (which are combined to create the economic freedom score) and personal freedom. In the 2018 edition, Florida, New Hampshire, Indiana, Colorado, and Nevada sit at the top of the rankings. New York again has the dishonor of being the least free state, preceded by Hawaii, California, New Jersey, and Vermont.
In addition to providing the latest rankings for 2016, this edition for the first time provides freedom scores for all years since 2000. The ability to sift through 17 years of data, enables Ruger and Sorens to identify the causes and consequences of changes in freedom. For instance, over the 2000-2016 period, Oklahoma is the most improved state, while over the 2015-2016 two-year period, New Hampshire has risen the most.
Ruger and Sorens find that the average state has seen increases in economic freedom since 2011 because of rapidly improving state fiscal policies and average improvement in regulatory policy. However, the authors discover that when federalized policies are accounted for in the economic freedom rankings, the average state score in 2016 falls below its score in 2000.
Since 2010, states have also experienced substantial increases in personal freedom. This is largely the result of ballot initiatives loosening cannabis regulations; the spread of legal gambling; and legislative criminal justice and asset forfeiture reforms. Unlike economic freedom, when federalized policies are included in personal freedom scores, states scores improve even more dramatically. The authors argue that this improvement is a result of judicial engagement on personal freedoms, such as the freedom to marry.
Although not always the case, conservative states tend to score better on economic freedom overall. In reviewing this relationship over time, the authors find that this correlation was weaker in 2000 than it is now. By contrast, personal freedom tends to be higher in progressive states. However, this connection is noisier and more uncertain than that between partisanship and economic freedom. When economic and personal freedom scores are combined conservative and moderate states fare much better in the rankings than strongly left ones.
There is strong evidence that states with more economic freedom attract more residents. The authors find a solid correlation between both lighter fiscal and regulatory impact of government policy and net migration, although evidence also suggests that personal freedom plays a role in attracting residents. For example, New York, the least free state, has lost more than 14% of its 2000 population in net migration to other states, while Florida, which ranks at the top, has attracted net in-migration from other states equal to more than 13% of its 2000 population. In fact, Florida is the second-most popular destination for fleeing New Yorkers, and the five-year age group most likely to move from New York to Florida is individuals who are 20–24 years old.
An in-depth comparison of New York to Florida reveals in greater detail why many may be flocking to the Sunshine State. While #50 New York has the highest tax burden in the country along with rent control, pro-union labor laws, and no restrictions on eminent domain for private benefit, #1 Florida has no individual income tax and has right-to-work, the toughest restrictions on eminent domain for private benefit in the country, and a panoply of school-choice programs for parents. Although every state has room to improve, Florida manages to be better than average in fiscal policy, regulatory policy, and personal freedom, while New York is below average in all three dimensions.
Measuring freedom is important because freedom is valuable to people. State and local governments ought to respect basic rights and liberties, such as the right to practice an honest trade or the right to make lifetime partnership contracts, whether or not respecting these rights ‘maximizes utility.’ Even minor infringements on freedom can erode the respect for fundamental principles that underlie our liberties. This index measures the extent to which states respect or disrespect these basic rights and liberties; in doing so, it captures a range of policies that threaten to chip away at the liberties we enjoy.
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