On Tuesday, the Cato Institute released the latest edition of “Freedom in the 50 States,” which ranks states by how their public policies champion freedom fiscally, with regulations, and in ways affecting personal freedom. As the Courier-Express stated, “To determine the rankings, state and local government intervention was examined 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.”
The ten best states ranked for freedom were Florida, New Hampshire, Indiana, Colorado, Nevada, North Dakota, Tennessee, South Dakota, Arizona, and Kansas.
The worst ten states were New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, Oregon, Maryland, Vermont, New Jersey, California, Hawaii, and New York.
The CATO Institute has ranked the Empire State 50th since the year 2000. Florida has ranked first every year for the last three years.