When I write about state economic policy, my go-to resources are Economic Freedom of North America and Freedom in the 50 States.

But I need to add Rich States, Poor States, which is published by the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Here’s a look at the rankings from ALEC’s most-recent report. Congratulations to Utah, which is in first place (and it’s been in first place ever since 2008), with Tennessee and Indiana rounding out the top 3.

Since I’m a fiscal wonk, I can’t resist pointing out that Utah and Indiana have flat taxes and Tennessee has no state income tax.

More broadly, what’s interesting about the ALEC report is how the rankings differ compared to my go-to indices.

The worst states are very similar (basket cases such as Illinois, California, New York, and New Jersey), but the best states are not the same,

In Economic Freedom of North America and Freedom in the 50 States, Florida, New Hampshire, and South Dakota get top scores.

But Utah, Tennessee, and Indiana top the ALEC report.

Yet all three indices are methodologically sound. Here are the variables in the ALEC report.

One final comment is that it’s disappointing that my state of Virginia is only #32.

P.S. All of the indices should start measuring the presence of school choice, which is now a major difference with some states being very good and others being awful (i.e., controlled by teacher unions).