The 2026 State Freedom Index: Not-So-Free-California
CATO gives California an overall D grade: CA is below average in overall freedom, ranking #47 of 50 states
By Katy Grimes, September 28, 2026 4:53 pm
What makes a state free? Lower taxes? Right to work laws? Eduction options?
What makes one state freer than another state? And should we even care, because after all, we live in the United States of America.
The overall freedom ranking by the CATO Institute is a combination of personal and economic freedoms.
The index scores each state on ten categories — the four big constitutional freedoms (1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendment protections, plus due process inside criminal justice) and six policy areas where states diverge sharply:
- economic freedom
- drug policy
- property rights
- religious liberty
- education choice
- regulatory burden
Each category is scored 0–10, and the ten add up to a 0–100 overall score.
The top of the table is dominated by the Mountain West and northern Plains — low-tax, light-regulation states that also tend toward permissive gun and drug laws. New Hampshire is the lone Northeastern entry, carried by the strongest economic-freedom and property-rights scores in the country.
| Rank | State | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Utah | 74.0 | B |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 73.7 | B |
| 3 | Montana | 72.1 | B |
| 4 | North Dakota | 70.8 | B |
| 5 | Arizona | 69.3 | B- |
| 6 | South Dakota | 69.0 | B- |
| 7 | Missouri | 66.2 | B- |
| 8 | North Carolina | 65.4 | B- |
| 9 | Florida | 64.6 | B- |
| 10 | Indiana | 64.2 | B- |
The bottom of the table is just as regional. Eight of the ten lowest-scoring states are coastal — the Northeast corridor (New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts) plus the Pacific (Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington). These are typically high-tax, high-regulation states with restrictive firearm laws, which costs them across several categories at once.
| Rank | State | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | Washington | 51.6 | C |
| 42 | Illinois | 50.3 | C |
| 43 | Oregon | 50.1 | C |
| 44 | Kentucky | 47.6 | C- |
| 45 | New Jersey | 45.5 | C- |
| 46 | Massachusetts | 44.1 | D+ |
| 47 | California | 43.9 | D+ |
| 48 | Delaware | 43.0 | D+ |
| 49 | New York | 41.3 | D |
| 50 | Hawaii | 40.9 | D |
CATO explains that in their freedom index:
Economic freedom addresses taxes, fiscal policy, and business climate, and clusters on the right side of the political spectrum. The top five states — New Hampshire (10.0), Tennessee (9.8), South Dakota (9.6), Texas (9.4), and Idaho (9.2) — are all Republican-governed.
The bottom five — New Mexico (0.0), New York (0.2), Hawaii (0.4), California (0.6), and Oregon (0.8) — are all Democratic-governed.
Personal freedom involves drug policy, criminal justice, and privacy protections, and is more mixed, CATO explains. Massachusetts has the nation’s best criminal-justice score (10.0), Oregon ties for the lead on drug policy (9.5), and Maine leads on 4th Amendment protections (9.5). These are typically blue states excelling on liberties that red states often restrict.
They even include The best states for gun rights in 2026:
Gun rights are the most polarized freedom in the index. The spread is a full 10.0 points — from Wyoming’s perfect score to New York’s 0.0. Here are the top 10 states for 2nd Amendment freedom:
- Wyoming – 10.0/10 (A+).
- Idaho – 9.8/10 (A+).
- Montana. – 9.6/10 (A+).
- Utah – 9.4/10 (A+).
- North Dakota – 9.2/10 (A+).
- Arizona – 9.0/10 (A+).
- South Dakota – 8.8/10 (A).
- Tennessee – 8.6/10 (A).
- Texas – 8.4/10 (A-).
- Kansas – 8.2/10 (A-).
California ranks at the bottom for gun rights:
47. California – 0.6/10 (F).
Here are all of California’s rankings:
CATO gives California an overall D grade and reports, “Across the hybrid multi-source index, California is below average in overall freedom, ranking #47 of 50 states with a score of 43.9/100. Its strongest areas are drug policy, 1st amendment, criminal justice, while it scores lowest in 2nd amendment, economic freedom, regulatory burden.”
California ranks among the weakest in the nation for gun rights. And with the proposed state-funded media bill awaiting Gov. Newsom’s signature or veto, the state may be creating California Pravda.
These rankings are not good, unless you are a drug user, have a big mouth and an opinion about everything, have a criminal record, are at risk for search and seizure, and have grown kids not in California’s public schools.
(Pravda, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union since 1917).
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
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Thank you Katy. I cannot say I am surprised. The only thing I AM surprised about is that California is not dead last. But wait! If the New Democrat shoe in (according to the leaders down in LA LA land) get his way, I believe we will slide right to the bottom. The only good thing is it won’t be a hard landing.
How could California be rated 8.0 in 1st Amendment? This is the state that banned doctors from telling patients about alternative COVID therapies. This is the state with the Nick Shirley Act. California has seen numerous laws struck down by federal and state courts for violating First Amendment rights, particularly regarding content moderation, political speech, and public criticism.
AB 587 (2022): In X Corp. v. Bonta, the Ninth Circuit ruled (August 2025) that core provisions requiring social media platforms to report how they moderate hate speech and extremism violate the First Amendment by interfering with editorial decision-making.
AB 2098, signed by Gov. Newsom in September 2022. It authorized the Medical Board of California to discipline physicians — up to and including license revocation — for sharing “misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19,” defined as anything “contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus contrary to the standard of care.”
January 2023: U.S. District Judge William Shubb granted a preliminary injunction in McDonald v. Lawson, finding the law “unconstitutionally vague” and a First Amendment violation.
July 2023: The Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments; multiple judges expressed skepticism of the state’s defense.
October 2023: Facing a likely loss on appeal, California repealed AB 2098 (effective January 1, 2024), effectively conceding its unconstitutionality.
AB 2655 & AB 2839 (2024): Federal Judge John Mendez struck down these deepfake-related bills, finding that AB 2655 violated the Communications Decency Act and AB 2839 unconstitutionally restricted free speech by prohibiting specific AI-generated material near elections.
SB 976 (“Addictive Feeds” Law): Currently under challenge in Meta v. Bonta, with the Electronic Frontier Foundation arguing the law violates teens’ First Amendment rights by restricting their access to recommended speech and digital interaction tools.
I can’t imagine a state with more attacks on the First Amendment than California.
At least they haven’t bummed up the weather….