States with the Most Regulatory Diversity

All states ranked by how many of PlainRegWatch's five policy categories contain a record marked enacted. Rankings use the jurisdictions PlainRegWatch tracks, with data from state legislatures, NCSL, and IAPP; see our methodology.

What This Ranking Tells Us

Regulatory diversity measures how many different policy areas a state has addressed through legislation. States covering more categories take a comprehensive approach to emerging issues, while others focus on one or two areas. California and Colorado lead in diversity, having enacted laws across privacy, AI, employment, right-to-repair, and food safety categories. High diversity suggests a legislature actively monitoring and responding to a broad range of emerging issues.

States with the Most Regulatory Diversity

51 states tracked

  1. 1
    Texas 5 Categories
    TX
  2. 2
    California 5 Categories
    CA
  3. 3
    Utah 4 Categories
    UT
  4. 4
    New York 4 Categories
    NY
  5. 5
    Colorado 4 Categories
    CO
  6. 6
    Virginia 3 Categories
    VA
  7. 7
    Tennessee 3 Categories
    TN
  8. 8
    Oregon 3 Categories
    OR
  9. 9
    Minnesota 3 Categories
    MN
  10. 10
    Illinois 3 Categories
    IL
  11. 11
    Delaware 3 Categories
    DE
  12. 12
    Connecticut 3 Categories
    CT
  13. 13
    West Virginia 2 Categories
    WV
  14. 14
    Washington 2 Categories
    WA
  15. 15
    Vermont 2 Categories
    VT
  16. 16
    Rhode Island 2 Categories
    RI
  17. 17
    New Jersey 2 Categories
    NJ
  18. 18
    New Hampshire 2 Categories
    NH
  19. 19
    Nebraska 2 Categories
    NE
  20. 20
    Montana 2 Categories
    MT
  21. 21
    Maryland 2 Categories
    MD
  22. 22
    Massachusetts 2 Categories
    MA
  23. 23
    Louisiana 2 Categories
    LA
  24. 24
    Kentucky 2 Categories
    KY
  25. 25
    Indiana 2 Categories
    IN
  26. 26
    Iowa 2 Categories
    IA
  27. 27
    Florida 2 Categories
    FL
  28. 28
    Arizona 2 Categories
    AZ
  29. 29
    Wyoming 1 Categories
    WY
  30. 30
    Wisconsin 1 Categories
    WI
  31. 31
    South Dakota 1 Categories
    SD
  32. 32
    South Carolina 1 Categories
    SC
  33. 33
    Pennsylvania 1 Categories
    PA
  34. 34
    Oklahoma 1 Categories
    OK
  35. 35
    Ohio 1 Categories
    OH
  36. 36
    Nevada 1 Categories
    NV
  37. 37
    New Mexico 1 Categories
    NM
  38. 38
    North Dakota 1 Categories
    ND
  39. 39
    North Carolina 1 Categories
    NC
  40. 40
    Mississippi 1 Categories
    MS
  41. 41
    Missouri 1 Categories
    MO
  42. 42
    Michigan 1 Categories
    MI
  43. 43
    Maine 1 Categories
    ME
  44. 44
    Kansas 1 Categories
    KS
  45. 45
    Idaho 1 Categories
    ID
  46. 46
    Hawaii 1 Categories
    HI
  47. 47
    Georgia 1 Categories
    GA
  48. 48
    District of Columbia 1 Categories
    DC
  49. 49
    Arkansas 1 Categories
    AR
  50. 50
    Alabama 1 Categories
    AL
  51. 51
    Alaska 1 Categories
    AK

Source PlainRegWatch State Regulation Tracker · July 2026

Source: PlainRegWatch State Regulation Tracker.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does regulatory diversity matter?

For businesses operating nationally, states with diverse regulatory portfolios require attention across more compliance areas. For consumers, diverse regulation means broader protections. For policymakers, states with high diversity serve as regulatory laboratories whose experiences inform other states and potential federal legislation.

Can a state score high in one area but low in others?

Absolutely. Many states have comprehensive data privacy laws but minimal AI regulation, or strong employment protections but no food chemical bans. Category coverage and the portal tracker score are related but not identical: a state might cover many categories lightly or few categories deeply within this dataset.

Explore More Rankings

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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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Source: State regulatory agencies / Federal Register State and federal regulatory rule history and changes · 2025

Every figure on PlainRegWatch is rendered from curated state legislative and Federal Register source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Positions use the displayed measure on the same state or category totals as the profile pages. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of July 2026. 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.