How free is your state?

There's an interesting study/report from George Mason University's Mercatus Center regarding the freedoms afforded by each of our 50 states, ranking them from "most free" to "least free", based upon a host of financial and regulatory factors.

In general, it seems to me that the states with the biggest cities have a tendency to be more restrictive, whereas more rural states are a little more liberal with their policies (though they often vote "conservative"... but we'll leave that grammatical discrepancy alone for today). Not surprisingly, New Hampshire takes home top honors in the freedom poll.

I've listed the top 5 "most free" and bottom 5 "least free" below, in case you don't feel like clicking around the Mercatus Center's site. I'm happy to have learned that I now live in the 9th most free state (Virginia), after having lived the majority of my life in the 46th, 41st and 50th-ranked states (Massachusetts, Illinois, and New York, respectively). I feel so free!

TOP FIVE (MOST FREE)

1. New Hampshire

2. South Dakota

3. Indiana

4. Idaho

5. Missouri

BOTTOM FIVE (LEAST FREE)

46. Massachusetts

47. Hawaii

48. California

49. New Jersey

50. New York  

[Mercatus Center]