Which states are the most fireworks-friendly?

Indiana is one of the most permissive states: full consumer fireworks are legal and state law expressly preempts local bans during the peak Independence Day window and New Year's Eve. No genuine consumer-fireworks bills surfaced this session, indicating a stable, permissive status quo.

Kentucky's statute already legalizes the full range of consumer fireworks statewide, so breadth is high. No fireworks-specific legislation appeared in 2026, so the score reflects the permissive status quo. Local option to restrict to sparkling devices in some counties is the main limit.

South Dakota is high on the permissive pole and its legislature has pushed to expand further. HB 1064 (2025) sought year-round sales by repealing seasonal restrictions; HB 1070 (2026) scaled back to expanding sale days. Both failed, so the permissive baseline holds without further liberalization.

Arkansas allows a broad consumer line including stick rockets and Roman candles. HB 1324 (2025, Rep. Duffield, R), enacted as Act 108, moved the summer retail window a week earlier: a clear pro-fireworks measure. No restrictive bills advanced.

Florida lets consumers use all fireworks types including aerials on three holidays with year-round novelties, placing it in the all-consumer permissive tier. The main limit is calendar-based rather than product-based. No fireworks bills appeared in 2025–26; the strong 2020 baseline carries the score.

No fireworks-specific legislation surfaced in Montana's 2025 biennial session, so the score rests on a permissive baseline: broad consumer access with modest carve-outs and light misdemeanor penalties. Points come off for excluded aerial categories and public-land bans.

North Dakota is among the more permissive states: broad consumer fireworks are legal, the sale age is just 12, and constraints are mainly date windows. The 2025 legislation reinforces rather than restricts: SB 2090 modernizes Fire Marshal/fireworks-licensing statutes and passed near-unanimously.

Iowa allows full consumer fireworks and its 2025 legislation moved permissive: SF 303 (via SSB 1104) bars local restrictions on the three peak holidays: an anti-preemption measure. Local authority on other days remains, preventing a top-tier score.

Ohio's 2022 law made it substantively permissive: full 1.4G consumer aerials are legal for adults on private property. The main restraints are the holiday-only discharge calendar and local opt-out. No genuine consumer-fireworks bills appeared this session; the score reflects the enacted baseline.

Idaho's baseline is broadly permissive. SB 1114 (2025) would loosen the law further by defining and authorizing aerial common fireworks for retail sale, permitting and use: an unambiguously enabling move. Light restriction load and no penalty-escalation bills keep Idaho above the midpoint.

Pennsylvania is broadly permissive on what may be sold (aerials legal since Act 43). The main drags are the heavy 12% fireworks tax and the 150-ft setback. HB 2453 (2026, Rep. Kozak, R) is a pro-consumer measure creating a six-month sales-tax exclusion, cutting the cost of the permissive baseline.

Wyoming is broadly permissive with light enforcement. HB 57 (2025) would have barred counties/municipalities from prohibiting fireworks use on July 4 and opened state parks/campgrounds: an aggressively pro-fireworks preemption measure. It failed introduction, so local ban power persists.

New Mexico's baseline is genuinely permissive for a Western drought state: aerials are legal statewide and localities are limited to regulating aerial/audible items mostly during drought. The one 2026 bill, HB 155 (Rep. Dixon, D), cuts against the permissive pole (expanded drought bans, higher penalties) and was postponed indefinitely.

Nebraska's 2026 session produced LB 754 (Sen. Wordekemper), a permit-administration measure extending display-fireworks permit validity from two to three years: mildly pro-industry; it was indefinitely postponed. Baseline is moderately permissive with a firm ban on true rockets and tight seasonal windows.

Maine legalized consumer fireworks in 2012 but keeps statutory carve-outs (banned missile rockets, helicopters, spinners), a high 21+ age floor, and strong local opt-out, so many towns ban them. No fireworks-specific legislation moved in 2025–26.

Michigan sits well above the middle. Full consumer aerials are legal statewide and the state preempts local sales bans, with protected discharge windows. The only genuine fireworks bill, HB 4731 (Rep. Mentzer, D), updates retail-sale safety/insurance conditions and clarifies preemption: a mixed maintenance measure preserving the permissive baseline.

Utah's aerial fireworks are legal statewide (more permissive than California, Arizona or Washington) but tight date windows and extensive wildfire restricted-discharge zones pull it to the middle. The 2025 bills were about definitions and geography, not expansion: HB 59 (Rep. Dunnigan, R, signed) is a technical reclassification to the federal 1.1–1.4 standard; SB 103 (Sen. Plumb, D, failed) would have tightened sales in restricted-discharge areas and mandated county mapping and retailer signage.

Alaska permits consumer fireworks but layers a five-month statewide fire-season prohibition on state land plus aggressive borough-level bans, which cut restriction and scope. No fireworks bills appeared in the 34th Legislature.

No fireworks-specific legislation appeared in Nevada's 2025 biennial session, so scoring rests on baseline law. Nevada is genuinely mixed: rural counties permit aerials, but population-dominant Clark County restricts to Safe-N-Sane with steep penalties (the harshest urban enforcement in the West.

Virginia is restrictive-to-moderate: ground/handheld 'permissible' fireworks are legal but all aerials are banned, with stiff penalties. The 2025 docket was regulatory: HB 2067 (Garrett, R) would have built a permitting/enforcement regime but died; HB 2642 (Austin, R) became law, tightening fireworks certification alongside a lighter-safety focus.

Arizona is a limited/ground-only state: consumer aerials are entirely banned, capping breadth. SB 1284 (2025, Sen. Gowan, R) would have added aerials, standardized licensure and set statewide windows, but it stalled at Second Reading and never became law.

Maryland is a restrictive-pole state: consumer aerials are illegal and only ground sparklers are broadly permitted. The 2025–26 measures point toward liberalization: HB 1502 (2026) and HB 1002 (2025), both by Rep. Hornberger (R), would legalize CPSC-standard consumer fireworks with a 16% tax and county opt-out (but both stalled.

Minnesota lands in the restrictive-lower band: only ground-based sparkling/novelty items are legal. Pro-fireworks momentum exists but is stalled: SF 655 (Sen. Rarick, R) and HF 3547 (Rep. Swedzinski, R) would broaden regulation to include aerial/audible devices and dedicate revenue to fire safety, but neither advanced.

Wisconsin is on the restrictive side: only sparklers/fountains are freely legal, and desirable aerials are permit-gated with per-device forfeitures. No genuine fireworks bills appeared in 2025–26.

Colorado permits only ground-based novelties; all aerials/explosives are illegal statewide and wildfire-driven local bans are frequent. No genuine consumer-fireworks bills advanced in the 2026 session; the dominant policy pressure is wildfire risk driving local discharge bans.

North Carolina's baseline is restrictive: no aerials, nothing that explodes or flies. But 2025–26 produced two substantive pro-fireworks bills: HB 98 (Gable, R) and SB 250 (Galey, R), both of which would legalize consumer fireworks under permit/excise frameworks. Neither passed, so the ban still governs.

Illinois is a known restrictive state where consumer fireworks are largely illegal and only sparkler-type novelties are permitted. The active bill, HB 2851, does not liberalize; it adds a 6% sparkler excise tax and further regulation. SB 2431 (enacted) tightens the Explosives Act.

New Jersey sits near the restrictive pole and its 2026 slate reinforces that. S 3038 (Sen. Wimberly) would repeal the 2017 sparkler/novelty exemption entirely; A 1093 (Assemblyman Clifton) adds new prohibited-use locations. No pro-fireworks expansion bills appear.

Oregon is far from the permissive pole: the consumer allowance excludes anything airborne or explosive and restricts sales to a two-week window, backed by misdemeanor penalties. No genuine consumer-fireworks legislation appeared in the searched sessions.

Washington scores low: a statewide ban on all true aerials/firecrackers plus a low milligram cap, tight windows, and (critically) explicit authority for cities and counties to ban outright, which major population centers have done. No genuine fireworks bills surfaced in 2025–26.

California is a Safe-and-Sane-only state with aerials fully banned and most jurisdictions prohibiting all consumer fireworks. SB 828 (2025–26, Sen. Cabaldon, D) adds disqualifying conditions for fireworks licenses/permits and reinforces local control: a restriction-tightening, enforcement-oriented measure still advancing.

Connecticut is a sparklers-and-fountains-only state, so breadth and restriction load score near the bottom. It earns modest pro-fireworks credit because 2025 bills (HB 7054, HB 5205) sought to legalize additional non-aerial consumer fireworks, and 2026 activity (SB 404 study, SB 368 unified code) shows the legislature revisiting the framework.

New York is near the restrictive pole: only sparkling devices are legal, aerials are banned everywhere, NYC bans everything, and a county opt-out means much of the population cannot use even sparklers. The one reform, AB 3353 (Blankenbush, R), would authorize a regulated consumer market but is stuck in committee.

Delaware allows only ground novelties on four holidays: one of the most restrictive schemes nationally. HB 63 (2026, Rep. Wilson-Anton, D) moves further in the restrictive direction: clarifying sale windows, adding permit requirements, raising penalties and mandating warnings. It passed the Senate 19-2.

Hawaii permits only permit-gated firecrackers, and the 2025–26 session was dominated by bills tightening further: restricting consumer fireworks to permitted cultural events, escalating penalties to felonies, and adding asset forfeiture. Only SB 1052 (a civil-fine downgrade) cut the other way.

Rhode Island is among the most restrictive states and near the anti-fireworks pole: only ground/handheld sparkler-class novelties are legal, all aerials are banned, and enforcement is exceptionally harsh (felony). No genuine fireworks legislation appeared in 2026 to loosen the regime.

Vermont anchors the restrictive pole: one of only a couple of states permitting nothing beyond sparklers and novelties, with everything else limited to permitted public displays. A search of the 2025–26 session surfaced no genuine consumer-fireworks legislation.

Massachusetts anchors the restrictive pole: zero consumer fireworks are legal, with mandatory seizure and forfeiture. The lone genuine bill, H 1681 (Rep. Elliott, D), moves further toward restriction (minimum fines, warrantless seizure in dense neighborhoods) and was sent to a study order (so the total-ban status quo is unchanged.