State Regulation Comparison

Do states with the most tracked records also have the highest tracker score? Not always. The score is a portal-derived coverage measure, not a finding about enforcement or regulatory burden. Regulations are tracked across all 51 jurisdictions (50 states and DC); see our methodology.

The record count measures how many entries this tracker contains for a state. The tracker score weights entries marked enacted across the five categories PlainRegWatch covers, then normalizes the result against the highest score in the dataset. It does not measure enforcement, penalties, legal burden, or the complete regulatory landscape. Check each linked official source and effective date before using an entry for compliance planning.

Most Regulated (by count)

Highest total regulations enacted

  1. 1 California 12 regs
  2. 2 Illinois 9 regs
  3. 3 Colorado 8 regs
  4. 4 New York 8 regs
  5. 5 Oregon 8 regs
  6. 6 Washington 7 regs
  7. 7 Connecticut 6 regs
  8. 8 Massachusetts 6 regs
  9. 9 Minnesota 5 regs
  10. 10 Texas 5 regs

Highest Tracker Scores

Highest portal-derived scores in this dataset

  1. 1 California 100 pts
  2. 2 Colorado 76 pts
  3. 3 Texas 69 pts
  4. 4 Connecticut 62 pts
  5. 5 Illinois 62 pts
  6. 6 Minnesota 62 pts
  7. 7 New York 62 pts
  8. 8 Oregon 62 pts
  9. 9 Washington 62 pts
  10. 10 Delaware 59 pts

Key Takeaways

  • A state can appear near the top of both lists because this tracker contains many records across its five covered categories.
  • Different ranks reflect the score's category weights and the share of records marked enacted, not enforcement strength.
  • A low record count does not show that a state has fewer laws overall; this tracker has a defined topic scope.
  • Category coverage and tracker score are portal-derived comparisons, not official state assessments.
All Rankings Regulation Guides Browse by State

Download the regulation-level extract used for these comparisons: state-regulation-landscape.csv. National reference on statistics.

Every figure on PlainRegWatch is rendered from curated state legislative and Federal Register source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Figures on this page come from the curated five-category archive. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Tracker scores and rule counts are curated records in five tracked categories - not enforcement strength, legal advice, a complete inventory of US law, or a live bill-status feed.