Here’s How Free Michigan Is Compared To Other States

Michigan has been ranked the 14th freest state in America, according to a new report from a libertarian think tank. The right-leaning Cato Institute published its “Freedom in the 50 States” report this month. The study is based on how each state’s policies promote fiscal, regulatory and personal freedom.

The researchers collected data on more than 230 state and local public policies that impact individual freedom. Florida was crowned the freest state in America while New Hampshire and West Virginia have seen the most improvement in expanding personal liberties.

Michigan has been improving steadily in the overall freedom rankings, up from No. 26 in 2009, but the list still calls Michigan “mediocre” when it comes to freedoms. It notes that the most recent major bump up came from although it did receive a bump from “the federalization of marriage policy that removed its super-DOMA banning same-sex partnerships of all kinds.”

Michigan did well in the category of telecommunications and cable freedom, along with victimless crime. But it fell low in marriage and education, along with trail freedom.

Here’s how Michigan ranked in each category:

Fiscal: No. 17
Regulatory: No. 24
Personal: No. 25
Economic: No. 17
Lawsuit:No. 40
Land:No. 26
Marriage: No. 43
Education: No. 48
Occupational:No. 32
Victimless: No. 4
Health insurance: No. 15
Labor: No. 19
Alcohol: No. 24
Asset Forfeiture: No. 21
Gambling: No. 16
Tobacco: No. 34
Guns: No. 32
Cannabis: No. 11
Cable: No. 1
Incarceration: No. 29
Travel: No. 37
Campaign finance: No. 32

Here's what else the report had to say about Michigan:

“Michigan’s local tax burden is relatively low, probably because of a school finance centralization accomplished by ballot initiative in the 1990s. The state tax burden has historically been higher than the national average, but it fell substantially in the early 2000s and now stands at 6.1 percent of adjusted personal income. Government debt has also fallen somewhat since 2008 and is now about average at 19 percent. Government employment fell from 13.3 percent of the private workforce in 2009 to 10.8 percent today. Michiganders do have reasonable freedom of choice among local governments, with about one per 100 square miles, but the centralization of school finance has made this choice less significant.”

Measuring freedom is important because people value it, the authors wrote. The U.S. has made great strides when it comes to respecting an individual’s rights regardless of race, sex, age or sexual preference, but some people are facing increasing threats to their interests, the Cato Institute said

The report said groups seeing their personal liberties slide include smokers, builders, affordable housing buyers, aspiring professionals who want to ply a trade without paying “onerous examination and education costs,” and less-skilled workers who’ve been “priced out of the market by minimum wage laws.”

Here are the top 10 freest states, according to the Cato Institute report:

1. Florida
2. New Hampshire
3. Indiana
4. Colorado
5. Nevada
6. North Dakota
7. Tennessee
8. South Dakota
9. Arizona
10. Kansas

Florida and New Hampshire significantly outpaced the other top five states, the authors noted.

“Florida’s rise since 2009 has been nothing short of stunning,” the study said. “While most states have improved on freedom in that time if federalized policies are excluded, Florida’s post-2010 improvement has been the third-greatest in the United States (after Wisconsin and Alaska).”

States that have always performed well in the index — North Dakota, South Dakota,Arizona and Tennessee — once again found themselves in the top 10.

New York is the least free state, as it has been every year of the index since 2000. Hawaii has fallen far enough to put itself well under California, the authors wrote. New Jersey and Vermont rounded out the bottom five.

“New York has been the least free state in the country for a long time,” the study said. “Economic freedom is the most significant weakness, but the state has not kept up with the rest of the country on personal freedom either.”

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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