According to the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World, New Hampshire was the most economically free state in America in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
But the state famous for “Live Free or Die” has now been replaced by the Sunshine State.
The most-recent edition, which is based on 2020 data, informs us that Florida now enjoys more economic liberty than any other state.
New Hampshire still is ranked very high, coming in at #2, followed by South Dakota at #3. Texas and Tennessee are tied for #4.
What’s the one thing they all have in common? No state income tax.
Meanwhile, the report also highlights the states that (predictably) dominate the bottom of the rankings.
For the purpose of comparing jurisdictions within the same country, the subnational indices are the appropriate choice. …In the United States, the most economically free state was Florida at 7.94, followed by New Hampshire at 7.84, South Dakota at 7.75, and Texas and Tennessee at 7.66. (Note that since the indexes were calculated separately for each country, the numeric scores on the subnational indices are not directly comparable across countries.) The least-free state was again New York at 4.25, following California at 4.59, Hawaii at 4.65, Vermont at 4.70, and Oregon at 4.92. For the first time, we have made a preliminary attempt to include the US territory of Puerto Rico in the US subnational index. It came in with a score of 2.04. The next lowest score was more than twice as high.
Here are the full rankings at the subnational level (i.e., measuring the policies that are under the control of state lawmakers).
For the first time, the report assesses Puerto Rico. Hardly a surprise to see where it ranks.
The report also has an “all-government” ranking, which includes the effect of both national and subnational governments.
On that basis, New Hampshire is in first place.
The all-government index includes…comparisons among Canadian, Mexican, and US subnational jurisdictions that take into account national policies affecting all jurisdictions within each country. …The top jurisdiction is New Hampshire at 8.10, followed by Florida (8.05), Utah (8.03), and then Idaho and South Carolina, tied for fourth (8.02).
The all-government scores allow comparison of all the state and provinces in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
The one clear takeaway is that Mexico desperately needs pro-market reforms.
I’ll close by observing that almost every US state ranks above every Canadian province.
But that wasn’t always the case. Which shows that Justin Trudeau is pushing Canada in the wrong direction even faster than American politicians are pushing the US in the wrong direction.
