“New York has been the least free state in the country for a long time. In fact, the Empire State has been the worst state for freedom every year since our data set began in 2000. Economic freedom is the most significant weakness and is continuing to get worse absolutely. The state has made gains on personal freedom and is now 30th. New York’s terrible economic freedom score will continue to drag the state down—and harm its ability to realize its full economic potential.”

“Combined, state and local taxes are crushing. Debt is down from years past but is still the highest in the country at 26.1 percent of income,” the report said.

The top five most accessible states include New Hampshire, Florida, South Dakota, Nevada, and Arizona. Rounding out the bottom five are Oregon, New Jersey, California, Hawaii, and New York.

[Texas is only 17 on the list for overall freedom, but comes in last in ‘personal freedom,’ largely due to its bottom position on marijuana and driver’s licenses and other ‘travel’ issues. Cato’s uber-libertarian take on this ‘freedom’ is rather suspect, since they oppose open-container laws and want driver’s licenses issued without reference to Social Security numbers, which would mean DLs for illegals. Texas has a pretty good interest in disincentivizing illegal immigration, no? And why would that impact the personal freedom of citizens and legal residents? — Ed]