North Carolina does well on the latest measure of economic freedom found in the eighth edition of the annual report, “Economic Freedom of North America 2012” (PDF) published by the Fraser Institute in Canada.
The report ranks the 50 U.S. states and the ten provinces of Canada. If you include only the U.S. states, North Carolina is tied for fifth with seven other states (Georgia, Nebraska, Utah, Alaska, New Hampshire, Iowa and Louisiana). Coming in first is Delaware, then Texas and Nevada tied for second, Wyoming, and Colorado South Dakota and Illinois tied for fourth.
The governmental jurisdictions were judged on 13 areas, including property rights, business regulation, and taxes.
Four Canadian provinces rank higher than North Carolina: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland & Labrador and British Columbia. Here’s a list showing the top states and provinces: