Where You Live Matters

While others theorize about the effects of public policies on our lives, William Ruger and Jason Sorens did the hard work of calculating them. "States that protect more of their residents' freedoms and make it easier to run businesses enjoy a steady inflow of people from more burdensome ones. They also enjoy higher personal income growth," conclude the authors in the new report, Freedom in the 50 States.

We score all 50 states on over 200 policies encompassing fiscal policy, regulatory policy, and personal freedom. We weight public policies according to the estimated costs that government restrictions on freedom impose on their victims.

The online version of the report is interactive, enabling you to select and weigh the factors important to you to rank the states.

We happily concede that different people value aspects of freedom differently. You can personalize the ranking and pick and choose which aspects of freedom you value and see how the states stack up.

The top ten states in overall freedom ranking of personal and economic freedoms are:

1. North Dakota
2. South Dakota
3. Tennessee
4. New Hampshire
5. Oklahoma
6. Idaho
7. Missouri
8. Virginia
9. Georgia
10. Utah 

The report was published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.