Which states are the best and worst at protecting religious liberty in the United States?
That is the question at the heart of the recently released annual “Religious Liberty in the States” report, produced by the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy at the First Liberty Institute, a prominent conservative legal organization.
Co-authored by Mark David Hall and Paul D. Mueller, the report examined the number of legal protections or “safeguards” for religious freedom each state has enacted. Researchers analyzed 47 distinct safeguards related to conscience protection.
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Issues covered by these safeguards included euthanasia refusal, health insurance mandates, ceremonial use of alcohol by minors, designating clergy as mandatory reporters, foster parent requirements, absentee voting for religious reasons, and clergy nonparticipation in weddings.
This year, Florida assumed the top spot in the ranking as the best state for religious freedom with a score of 74.6%, taking the title from Illinois, which earned the No. 1 ranking in 2024.
“Florida is an exemplar for how state legislators can improve their state’s protection of religious liberty,” the report reads. “When we began the project, Florida protected a respectable 58 percent of the eleven safeguards we considered in 2022 and was ranked sixth in the nation. Today, it protects 75 percent of the twenty safeguards we consider and ranks first. Most of its improvement derived from legislation strengthening its medical conscience protections in 2023 and legislation protecting houses of worship from discriminatory treatment during pandemics and other emergencies in 2022.”
Montana ranked second with a score of 70.6%, followed by Illinois at 68.8%, Ohio at 66.9%, Mississippi at 66.4%, Arkansas at 62.9% and South Carolina at 60.8%.
Illinois fell 11 percentage points from 2024 to 2025, having previously received 85% in 2023 and 81% last year. Researchers say that religious freedom “now seems more tenuous in the Land of Lincoln” than it was when they began compiling the index, because the state has failed to implement new religious freedom protections enacted in other states.
Researchers stated that Illinois’ drop is, in part, due to the addition of several new religious liberty protections to their analysis, noting that “almost all of Illinois’s religious liberty protections were adopted between 1934 and 1998.”
“Although still among the top five states, Illinois fell from its first-place position in RLS 2023 and 2024. It now protects only 69 percent of the safeguards we consider, whereas in 2022 it protected 81 percent of them,” researchers wrote. “We add new religious liberty protections to the index as we discover them, as long as they have been implemented in at least one state.”
For the third consecutive year, West Virginia ranked last in religious liberty protections, earning a score of only 19.6%. The Mountain State previously received 24.7% last year and 14% in 2023.
Wyoming is the second-worst state for religious liberty safeguards, earning a score of 23.3%, followed by Michigan (27.4%), Nebraska (29.1%) and Vermont (29.3%).
Overall, the report stresses that about 76% of states (38) have adopted fewer than half of the analyzed religious liberty safeguards.
Since the inaugural report in 2022, the most improved state was Montana, which increased its score by 30.8% to 71% during that time, mainly due to the passage of increased conscience protections. Meanwhile, South Carolina wasn’t far behind with a 29.6% increase from 2022 to 2025. With a 17% increase from 2022 to 2025, Florida is the third-most-improved state.
While still highly ranked, Mississippi had the most significant decline of any state since 2022, with its score dropping 15.4% due to a lack of newly enacted religious liberty safeguards.
In a statement, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated the news that the Sunshine State was ranked first in the report, highlighting the many efforts his administration has pursued on the issue, including laws that advance school choice, designate churches as essential services in case of emergency, and the creation of a school chaplain program.
“We’re grateful for this recognition from the First Liberty Institute, which has just named Florida the #1 state in the nation for protecting religious liberty,” he stated.
“Religious liberty is critical to the foundation and function of America, and I am proud that Florida excels in protecting this right.”
