Pretty solid read.  I am sure you can weight the factors differently, but this is pretty thorough.  I am not shocked to see NY and NJ, where they are, but a little surprised California isn't lower.

https://mises.org/power-market/new-york-americas-least-free-state-which-most-libertarian

CA is so large and diverse that it does not surprise me. I thought Ohio would be a little higher on the list, given the swings to the right the last 10+ years. 

My state, Maryland, is right where I thought it would be. 

Isn't California at 48 in overall freedom score? Can't get much lower than New York and Hawaii.  Ohio is not bad, and on an upward trend from the last table. SC not so great, but also on the up-swing in recent years.

Oops, I was looking at the overall growth chart and not the overall freedom chart.  I take back my statement, I am not surprised at all where California is ranked lol.  Give it a few more years and we will most likely see VA take a nose dive.  Same with Illinois, even though they are already somewhat low.

Interesting

posted by like_that

Oops, I was looking at the overall growth chart and not the overall freedom chart.  I take back my statement, I am not surprised at all where California is ranked lol.  Give it a few more years and we will most likely see VA take a nose dive.  Same with Illinois, even though they are already somewhat low.

 

 

So, top 10...

2 blue states (NH, CO)

4 purple states

4 red states

Bottom 10...

all 10 blue states...

Hmm...wonder if there is a correlation or causation?

The six states most aligned with socialist/Marxist policy are in the negative on the freedom scale.  Imagine that.

Given our future plans to jump across the river to Kentucky, I wish they were a little higher on the list. Seeing it with an overall negative score is kind of a bummer. I'm honestly really surprised by Indiana's score.

If it weren't for my job I'd likely pick up and move to a state like Tennessee. Ideally I'd choose Montana, but my wife hates cold weather so that's a no-go.

Hey, at leasrt Maryland has an R Governor, Hogan, who is trying to pull some of these things back. 

posted by justincredible

Given our future plans to jump across the river to Kentucky, I wish they were a little higher on the list. Seeing it with an overall negative score is kind of a bummer. I'm honestly really surprised by Indiana's score.

If it weren't for my job I'd likely pick up and move to a state like Tennessee. Ideally I'd choose Montana, but my wife hates cold weather so that's a no-go.

Tennessee having no income tax and slowly removing their hall tax makes the state very appealing.   I've read it's supposed to be completely gone by 2022 and their are reducing the tax by 1 % every year up until 2022.  My guess is they will move up the freedom rankings once it is completely gone.

What's a hall tax?

posted by justincredible

What's a hall tax?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_income_tax

Interesting. I had no idea that existed, glad to see they are rolling it back to zero. 

I always enjoy the New Hampshire state motto, which is on their license plates: "LIVE FREE OR DIE".

Wondered what the "freedom" level was of our founding state....the 13 colonies.  You would think that the founding members would be the freeist.  Hence why we are even here:

NH- 2

Mass-23

RI- 42

Conn. 33

NY 50

NJ- 47

Penn- 20

Del- 43

Mary- 45

NC- 18

SC- 29

Virg- 13

Georgia- 12

Biggest surprise for me here is probably Wyoming.

posted by fish82

Biggest surprise for me here is probably Wyoming.

Yeah, I would've put it in the top 15 if I were to guess the order blindly.

New Mexico for me.  I was always under the impression they were a "do whatever the fuck you want" state. 

In related news, a ranking from The Economist (I think) said the US had among the highest declines in its Democracy ratings.  Before the anti-Trump people get excited, it was pointed out the decline began YEARS before Trump (which shouldn't surprise anyone here).

The media loves to blame Trump, but it's actually the ultra partisan media that's at the heart of a lot of this polarizing crap taking place.