State Rankings - Economic Freedom

The Fraser Institute, an organization located in Canada, put out a ranking of states within the U.S. and their degree of economic freedom. The full report can be found here. They also performed analysis of Canada and Mexico, which are included in the report. To simplify the report I created a graphic, which is below. The more intense the blue, the more free. The more intense the red, the less free.

The most free state, which might be hard to see, is Delaware. Texas was 2nd. On the low end, West Virginia was the worst, with Mississippi right behind. I believe that the analysis was based on data and conditions in 2005, so the rankings may have changed slightly. Some states surprised me, but it reveals no surprise as to why certain sunbelt states are booming and others are not.

*note - My stock map did not include Alaska and Hawaii. Both states ranked poorly for economic freedom.