freedomrankings.comReligious Liberty
Utah leads all 50 states for Religious Liberty with a score of 8.5/10, followed by Idaho and Texas. California ranks last. Each state is scored 0–10 on Religious Liberty from established, annually-updated third-party indexes.
Score reflects RFRA laws, religious exemptions, and free-exercise protections. Editorial assessment — see methodology. Greener = stronger; select any state for its full breakdown.
Utah ranks #1 for religious liberty in our index, scoring 8.5/10 — typically a state with a Religious Freedom Restoration Act and broad religious exemptions. The full ranking is above.
A Religious Freedom Restoration Act requires courts to apply strict scrutiny when a government action substantially burdens religious exercise — government must use the least restrictive means to serve a compelling interest. About 30 states have one; see our RFRA explainer.
California ranks lowest in our religious-liberty assessment, reflecting fewer statutory protections like the absence of a RFRA or narrower religious exemptions.
It is an editorial assessment — there is no single annual index — drawing on RFRA laws, religious exemptions (including vaccines), and free-exercise protections. See the methodology page.