The State Constitutional Protection of Free Exercise factor evaluates the strength of state constitutional religious freedom protections, particularly protections against threats from government action.

These protections can come through the constitutional text itself or through a state supreme court’s interpretation of its state constitution.

A state constitution can provide stronger religious freedom protections than the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Note that First Amendment religious freedom protections include the text of the First Amendment itself, as well as protections of Supreme Court precedent in decisions such as Employment Division v. Smith and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. States that exceed the minimum level of protection required by the First Amendment, as incorporated to the states, receive the highest scores for this factor.

Below is a tier ranking of each state for this factor. Click on the state's name to open up its page, which provides more information on that particular state's overall score and relevant laws.