How free are individuals in all 50 states? Political scientists Jason Sorens and Will Ruger have crunched the numbers in over 30 areas — civil liberties, travel freedom, drug enforcement, business regulation, tax policy, and so on — as well as computing overall rankings for each state.
And the winner is … North Dakota, followed by South Dakota, Tennessee, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma.
My home state, Illinois, now ranks 45th, falling two spots since 2009: “Illinois is one of the least free states to live in from the perspective of regulatory policy and personal freedom, but on fiscal policy it ranks in the middle of the pack.” Gack.
Related:
* Freedom in the World.
* “Illinois: Where governors go to jail and business can go to hell.”