Florida ranked as the ‘Freest State in the Union’ — But…

What state is the freest? According to the John Locke Foundation, the answer is Florida. However, in some categories Florida is far from being ranked first. The John Locke Foundation ranked the states using four metrics: fiscal policy, education freedom, regulatory freedom and healthcare freedom. All of these metrics focus on government intervention into personal freedom.

The social issues, such as religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom to petition elected officials, were not measured. While this ranking is useful it is not complete. When the John Locke Foundation includes social freedoms then the index may have greater validity.

The George Mason University’s Mercatus Center “Freedom in the 50 States” gives a more complete analysis of freedom in each state. The Mercatus Center ranks Florida at 23rd on its freedom index. While Florida ranks first in the John Locke Foundation index it falls short in several areas. Florida ranks 45th in regulatory freedom and 30th in healthcare freedom according to the John Locke Foundation index. Mercatus Center ranks Florida as 36th in personal freedom and 32nd in regulatory freedom.

Michael Hausman from IJReview in a column titled “What States are the Freest? This Map Shows Americans Where to Go If They Crave Liberty” writes:

The John Locke Foundation just published its First In Freedom Index, a report that compares and ranks the relative freedom of all fifty states.

The North Carolina-based think tank says it has an institutional commitment to “individual liberty and limited, constitutional government,” weighed four different variables to compile the rankings.

The most significant consideration was fiscal policy, which measures taxes and budgetary measures. This aspect generated 50 percent of each state’s score, with 20 percent given each to education and regulatory policies, and the final 10 percent to health care policy.

[ … ]

The overall results from the report show:

  1. The ‘freest’ state is Florida, followed by Arizona, Indiana, South Dakota, and Georgia.
  2. The ‘least free’ state is New York, followed by New Jersey, California, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

Read more.

The map below shows the overall index ranking of each state:

freest states in the union

For a larger view click on the image.

Hausam includes in his column the George Mason University’s Mercatus Center “Freedom in the 50 States” map, which includes more than 200 economic and personal variables in their calculations.

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