States / Texas
Texas
One in five people in Texas who took the quiz scored libertarian, about the same as the country. One in 89 voted that way. Here is what the count says about Texas, what the state has changed, and who is doing the work.
How Texas scores
53.9 of 100, rank 16 of 50. Five parts, each turned into a 0 to 100 mark and weighted as shown. The method page has the formulas.
Wins on the ledger, 6 for Texas, are listed below and left out of the score, because the ledger records what we have checked, not everything that happened.
Where Texas lands
Quiz takers in the state against quiz takers everywhere, by type. The bar is the state; the line is the country.
United States, same window. These are quiz takers, not a sample of residents. The current quiz version cannot be shown by state until ZIP capture, which stopped in January 2026, is restored.
How free is Texas
Eight measures, each from its publisher, each with the year it was measured.
What Texas changed
Every entry is a real change in what the government forbids or requires, one an ordinary person could feel the next day, with sources. Partial wins say so.
- Texas hemp-THC ban vetoed, preserving legal access to consumable hemp productsDrug policy, June 2025
Governor Abbott vetoed Senate Bill 3, which would have banned the sale of most consumable hemp-derived THC products in Texas. The bill had passed the Senate 30-1; the veto kept legal access intact.
- Texas legalizes multifamily housing by-right on commercially zoned land in major citiesHousing, June 2025Partial winState overrides local rule
Senate Bill 840 requires Texas's largest cities to allow multifamily and mixed-use housing by right on commercially zoned land — bypassing the rezoning and public-hearing processes that constrain supply.
Why this is a partial win
This arrived as a state law overriding local zoning. Libertarians divide on that: some hold that a state has no business dictating what towns may forbid. The ledger records it because the person coerced was the owner who could not build, and the day after signing that owner could. The federalism question is real and is not the one the ledger measures. It applies only to the largest cities in the largest counties, so most Texans' towns are untouched.
- Texas enacts right-to-repair law for consumer electronicsRight to make and repair, June 2025Partial win
Texas requires consumer-electronics makers to provide replacement parts, tools, and documentation on fair terms — the eighth state and the first Republican-led state to enact a right-to-repair law for electronics.
Why this is a partial win
The law expands what an owner can do with a device by imposing a duty on its maker to sell parts, tools and documentation on fair terms. That is a new obligation on one set of people to widen the choices of another. The ledger records it because the practical effect is that owners control property they paid for; readers who weigh the mandate more heavily will discount it, and the ledger says so.
- Texas bans large-minimum-lot-size mandates on new starter-home subdivisionsHousing, June 2025Partial winState overrides local rule
SB 15 caps the minimum lot size Texas cities may require on new single-family subdivisions of five acres or more, removing a common municipal mechanism for blocking smaller, more affordable starter homes.
Why this is a partial win
This arrived as a state law overriding local zoning. Libertarians divide on that: some hold that a state has no business dictating what towns may forbid. The ledger records it because the person coerced was the owner who could not build, and the day after signing that owner could. The federalism question is real and is not the one the ledger measures. The cap applies only to new subdivisions of five acres or more in the largest cities; existing neighborhoods keep their minimums.
- Texas enacts the nation's largest day-one school choice programParental authority, May 2025
Texas Senate Bill 2 creates an education savings account program letting families use state funds for private-school tuition, therapy, transportation, and other approved costs — the largest first-year school-choice launch in the country.
- Austin cuts its minimum residential lot size by two-thirdsHousing, May 2024
Austin's HOME Phase 2 ordinance reduced the city's minimum residential lot size from 5,750 square feet to 1,800, allowing more — and smaller, more attainable — homes on land previously restricted to a single house.
Who is doing the work in Texas
Advocates for Self-Government, which publishes this site, works in every state. 1 group is based in Texas, and other national groups take cases and run programs everywhere. Say who you are and what you care about to sort the whole directory.
Count Texas
The state's count grows one booth and one classroom at a time. Three ways to add to it.