Individual Liberty

From loitering laws to daytime curfews, many cities violate the freedom of their citizens. How does your city rank?

See the 2015 ranking

Property Rights

Building permit fees, bees, and plenty in-between… See where your city lands on the ranking!

See the 2015 ranking

Free Market

Some cities own businesses. Others mandate costly fees. Is your city staying out of your wallet?

See the 2015 ranking

Is your city protecting your freedom?

Utah's Constitution has important protections—but are cities complying? Below are the three categories used in our ranking.
Click the button below each category to view the metrics we've included in our ranking.

Individual Liberty

"Frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is essential to the security of individual rights and the perpetuity of free government." —Article I, Section 27

View the metrics

Private Property

"All men have the inherent and inalienable right… to acquire, possess and protect property." —Article I, Section 1
 

View the metrics

Free Market

"A free market system shall govern trade and commerce in this state to promote the dispersion of economic and political power…" —Article XII, Section 20

View the metrics
See the 2015 ranking

Why do the ranking?

Libertas Institute seeks to educate and empower Utahns.
Watch this brief video which explains how this ranking helps achieve that goal.

Some of the highlights

From chickens to oriental rugs, Utah's cities micro-manage all sorts of things.
Here's a few of the notable restrictions we've come across.

Short-term rentals in Utah

Short-term rental shutdown

Are you a fan of Airbnb or VRBO? In a frontal assault against property rights, there's a good chance short-term rentals are illegal in your city.

Sunday 'blue law' business closures

Thou shalt close on Sunday

Many cities aren't fans of the free market, instead requiring businesses to shut down on Sunday, or certain hours during other days of the week.

Prohibiting self-defense and violating the Second Amendment?

No Nerf guns in SLC

Salt Lake City and several other cities restrict the discharge of projectile weapons, including firearms.

Obtaining city permission before protesting

A permission slip to protest?

Got a beef with the city? If you want to organize a protest, there's a chance you may have to first obtain the city's permission and pay a fee.

City-owned enterprises

In the business of… business?

Some cities aren't content to simply govern, and compete with the private sector by owning and operating businesses.

Running afoul of chicken laws

Arbitrary limits on the ownership of hens turns peaceful property owners into offenders of the law for no valid or legitimate reason.

The dangerous discretion of loitering laws

Be careful where you daydream and lollygag—in select Utah cities, you could be breaking the law for being there without official business.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.