With states opening up more but a full reopening only possible once most of the population has been vaccinated, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released updated rankings for the States with the Fewest Coronavirus Restrictions, as well as accompanying videos and audio files.
To identify which states have the fewest coronavirus restrictions, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 14 key metrics. The data set ranges from whether restaurants are open to whether the state has required face masks in public and workplace temperature screenings. Below, you can see highlights from the report.
States with the Fewest COVID-19 Restrictions
| Overall Rank | State | Total Score | Delta in Overall Rank vs. January 26, 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa | 92.38 | 2 |
| 2 | South Carolina | 84.52 | 8 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 83.33 | -2 |
| 4 | Idaho | 81.46 | 10 |
| 5 | South Dakota | 80.27 | -3 |
| 6 | Alaska | 79.12 | 3 |
| 7 | Utah | 77.93 | -1 |
| 8 | Florida | 75.51 | -3 |
| 9 | Tennessee | 74.83 | 10 |
| 10 | Montana | 72.79 | 3 |
| 11 | North Dakota | 72.48 | 3 |
| 12 | Missouri | 72.11 | -5 |
| 13 | Arkansas | 71.77 | -9 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 71.29 | -6 |
| 15 | Nebraska | 69.56 | 2 |
| 16 | Alabama | 69.05 | -4 |
| 17 | Georgia | 66.80 | 1 |
| 18 | Kansas | 65.85 | -7 |
| 19 | Louisiana | 61.57 | 3 |
| 20 | Indiana | 59.73 | 0 |
| 21 | Mississippi | 55.99 | 0 |
| 22 | New Hampshire | 54.08 | 1 |
| 23 | Ohio | 51.40 | 8 |
| 24 | Wyoming | 48.91 | -8 |
| 25 | Arizona | 46.80 | 5 |
| 26 | West Virginia | 45.61 | -1 |
| 27 | Maryland | 45.44 | -3 |
| 28 | Kentucky | 44.42 | -2 |
| 29 | Nevada | 43.61 | -2 |
| 30 | Illinois | 43.44 | 12 |
| 31 | Michigan | 41.19 | -2 |
| 32 | Pennsylvania | 40.34 | 3 |
| 33 | Texas | 38.98 | -5 |
| 34 | Minnesota | 38.50 | -2 |
| 35 | Oregon | 38.30 | 2 |
| 36 | New Jersey | 37.65 | -2 |
| 37 | Delaware | 37.31 | -4 |
| 38 | Rhode Island | 35.92 | -2 |
| 39 | New York | 35.58 | 0 |
| 40 | Maine | 32.18 | 0 |
| 41 | Connecticut | 31.16 | 0 |
| 42 | Washington | 28.78 | 4 |
| 43 | Colorado | 28.44 | -5 |
| 44 | New Mexico | 27.59 | 3 |
| 45 | North Carolina | 26.94 | -1 |
| 46 | Massachusetts | 23.81 | 3 |
| 47 | California | 22.79 | 4 |
| 48 | Hawaii | 22.52 | -5 |
| 49 | District of Columbia | 21.63 | -1 |
| 50 | Vermont | 20.61 | -5 |
| 51 | Virginia | 17.21 | -1 |
Note: Rankings are based on data available as of 12:30 p.m. ET on Monday, March 1, 2021.
Overtime Changes to State Social Distancing Measures
| State | Overall Rank, as of March 2, 2021 | Overall Rank, as of January 26, 2021 | Overall Rank, as of October 6, 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| South Carolina | 2 | 10 | 19 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Idaho | 4 | 14 | 2 |
| South Dakota | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| Alaska | 6 | 9 | 12 |
| Utah | 7 | 6 | 3 |
| Florida | 8 | 5 | 11 |
| Tennessee | 9 | 19 | 18 |
| Montana | 10 | 13 | 28 |
| North Dakota | 11 | 14 | 9 |
| Missouri | 12 | 7 | 8 |
| Arkansas | 13 | 4 | 10 |
| Wisconsin | 14 | 8 | 6 |
| Nebraska | 15 | 17 | 21 |
| Alabama | 16 | 12 | 14 |
| Georgia | 17 | 18 | 13 |
| Kansas | 18 | 11 | 17 |
| Louisiana | 19 | 22 | 25 |
| Indiana | 20 | 20 | 15 |
| Mississippi | 21 | 21 | 22 |
| New Hampshire | 22 | 23 | 26 |
| Wyoming | 24 | 16 | 7 |
| Arizona | 25 | 30 | 45 |
| Maryland | 27 | 24 | 24 |
| Kentucky | 28 | 26 | 37 |
| Nevada | 29 | 27 | 20 |
| Illinois | 30 | 42 | 23 |
| West Virginia | 26 | 25 | 27 |
| Michigan | 31 | 29 | 30 |
| Pennsylvania | 32 | 35 | 42 |
| Ohio | 23 | 31 | 16 |
| Texas | 33 | 28 | 35 |
| Minnesota | 34 | 32 | 32 |
| Oregon | 35 | 37 | 44 |
| New Jersey | 36 | 34 | 47 |
| Delaware | 37 | 33 | 31 |
| Rhode Island | 38 | 36 | 29 |
| New York | 39 | 39 | 38 |
| Maine | 40 | 40 | 48 |
| Connecticut | 41 | 41 | 39 |
| Washington | 42 | 46 | 36 |
| Colorado | 43 | 38 | 46 |
| California | 47 | 51 | 50 |
| North Carolina | 45 | 44 | 33 |
| Massachusetts | 46 | 49 | 49 |
| New Mexico | 44 | 47 | 34 |
| Hawaii | 48 | 43 | 51 |
| District of Columbia | 49 | 48 | 43 |
| Vermont | 50 | 45 | 41 |
| Virginia | 51 | 50 | 40 |
Note: As the situation with the coronavirus pandemic has evolved, we have updated the methodology of this report to reflect the actions easing social distancing measures the most at the time of publication.
COVID-19 Death Rate vs Restrictions
Note: Rank 1 on the “COVID19 Death Rate Ranking” means fewest deaths and Rank 1 on “Fewest Restrictions Ranking” means the fewest restrictions in place.
Unemployment Ranking vs Restrictions Ranking