The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has released a detailed study ranking the 50 states in terms of how much individual freedom each permits to its residents.

New Hampshire places #1 in the overall ranking, and first in Fiscal Policy. New York comes in dead last in Fiscal Policy, Economic Freedom, and in the overall ranking.

Delaware has a lot of room for improvement. We were ranked 30th in Fiscal Policy, 16th in Regulatory Policy, 24th in Economic Freedom, 36th in Personal Freedom, and 26th overall.

Here is how the study summarizes Delaware in its state by state descriptions:

Delaware is relatively economically free for a “blue state,” coming in at #30 on fiscal policy and #16 on regulatory policy. However, as in many highly urbanized states, personal freedoms are more restricted (#36). On fiscal policy, the one area where Delaware could stand to improve a great deal is local government finance. Even for its size, Delaware is fiscally centralized, and local governments are heavily dependent on grants. On regulatory policy, Delaware stands out for a relatively light hand on health insurance, and its labor laws are about as market-oriented as can be expected for a left-leaning coastal state. Delaware has the best liability system in the country. The one area of regulation where Delaware could improve markedly is land-use restrictions. However, it may be unreasonable to expect a high-density state to relax its control in this area. Delaware has surprisingly light overall gun control, considering its ideology and urbanization, but it could easily stand to improve its marijuana regime (high-level possession and low-level cultivation and sale are felonies). Delaware is one of five states with a statewide ban on all personal fireworks and has adopted one of the very strictest smoking bans in the United States. The state has better than average gambling laws and is one of the few states with legal betting on horse races.

This is a considerable drop from about six years ago when a similar study by the Free State Project ranked us in the top 10. Thank you ever so much Ruth Ann Minner, and the members of the General Assembly!