The Mercatus Center of George Mason University has released the “first-ever” freedom rankings for all 50 states, rating each state in terms of fiscal policy, regulatory policy, economic freedom and personal freedom.

We develop and justify our ratings and aggregation procedure on explicitly normative criteria, defining individual freedom as the ability to dispose of one’s own life, liberty, and justly acquired property however one sees fit, so long as one does not coercively infringe on another individual’s ability to do the same,” explain the authors, William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens.

Where does your state stand?

The freest states are New Hampshire, Colorado and South Dakota. NH scored a plus .432.

The least free states are New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, California and Maryland. NY scored a minus .784.

Living in California, I had a pretty good idea my state would bilge out, as would New York.

If you want more details or wish to track your state, here’s the report in PDF format.