U.S. economic freedom index

The U.S. Economic Freedom Index is one of the few scholarly analyses and rankings of U.S. states based on how friendly or unfriendly state government policies are toward free enterprise and consumer choice. It updates the 2004 and 1999 editions using recent data that reflect changes in state policies. The Index score ranges from 1 (most free) to 50 (least free), and state rankings were derived from the index scores. The Index collected and ranked 143 indicators comprised of 209 underlying variables from five sectors (fiscal, regulatory, judicial, size of government, and welfare spending) for each state to measure how friendly, or unfriendly, each state's government policies are toward free enterprise and consumer choice.