By SUZANNE DOWNING
Oct. 23, 2026 – Alaskans like to think of themselves as independent, self-reliant, and comfortably beyond the reach of excessive government.
A new national ranking offers a less flattering assessment: The Last Frontier is among America’s least free states.
Alaska placed 47th overall and received an F in the Cato Institute’s 2026 “Freedom in the 50 States” report. Only Massachusetts, New York, and Hawaii ranked lower. Alaska even finished behind California, a state Alaskans often invoke as an example of government overreach.
Released Thursday, the libertarian think tank’s revamped index evaluates 97 policy measures across 10 categories of economic and personal freedom. For the first time, it also separately grades governors on their records of advancing or restricting liberty.
For Alaska, one of the report’s clearest findings challenges a familiar assumption: Having no personal income tax doesn’t necessarily mean having limited government.
Cato singled out Alaska in its fiscal analysis, awarding the state the lowest D in that category, attributing that result to high government spending financed substantially through oil and gas severance taxes. That arrangement allows Alaska to shift much of its tax burden away from residents’ direct tax bills, while maintaining a large government.
Cato also identified Alaska’s comparatively high debt burden and government payroll as factors pulling down its fiscal grade.
That is the heart of Alaska’s freedom paradox: Residents enjoy the absence of a state personal income tax while still living under a government that consumes substantial resources and spends enormous sums.
The index reaches well beyond taxes and gun ownership — to housing, employment and contracting, technology and consumer choice, education, firearms, speech and association, medical decisions, recreation, and freedom from law enforcement overreach.
That law enforcement measures limits on police power, surveillance, and government overreach. Recreational freedom includes policies governing gambling, alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana.
Alaska received an F in recreational freedom as well, even though cannabis is essentially legal in the state, illustrating how Cato’s definition can differ from the public perception.
Arizona took the top overall position. Cato highlighted its strength across education, firearms, fiscal policy, medical freedom, and technology and consumer freedom.
In education, Arizona leads a group of states whose policies combine broad school choice, open enrollment, charter school options, and comparatively light regulation of homeschooling.
The report also distinguishes a state’s existing policies from its current governor’s agenda. Arizona received an A for education freedom, while Gov. Katie Hobbs received an F in that category because of her proposals to eliminate or restrict the state’s universal education savings account program.
