The United States is widely regarded as one of the most religiously free nations on the planet, but a new report makes clear that not all Americans experience that freedom equally depending on where they live.
The 2026 First Liberty Institute Index finds that religious liberty protections are strongest in states located primarily in the Southeast and parts of the lower Midwest. By contrast, residents in the Northeast and Far West live in states where those same protections are considerably more limited.
The index also highlights a political pattern: states where Republicans hold the majority tend to offer broader religious freedom than their Democratic-majority counterparts.
