How to Run a 50-State Survey: A Step-by-Step Guide

Short answer: A 50-state survey is a side-by-side comparison of what each state's law says about one narrow question. You run it in six steps. Write the question tightly. Find the right law in each state. Read the statute (a law passed by a legislature) and the regulation under it (a rule an agency writes to carry out that law). Check that both are current. Record each answer with its citation and date. Flag any state where the answer depends on something else. This guide walks through all six, with a real example, and it is general information, not legal advice.

TL;DR

• Keep the question narrow. "What are the employment laws?" cannot be surveyed. "By when must a fired employee be paid?" can.
• Every state organizes its laws differently, so the first job is finding the right section in each one.
• A statute often points to a regulation. Skip the regulation and you can get the answer wrong.
• Write down the date you checked each source. Law changes.
• Decide up front whether "50 states" includes DC and the territories.

Step 1: Define the question tightly

A survey answers one question across many places. The tighter the question, the cleaner the table.

Name four things:

1. Who the rule applies to (an employer, a lender, a seller).
2. What event triggers it (firing someone, a data breach, a sale).
3. What answer you need (a deadline, a yes or no, a dollar amount).
4. Which places count (50 states, or also DC and territories).

Our example question: When an employer fires an employee, by when must it pay the final wages?

Step 2: Find the right law in each state

States name and organize their laws differently. California has a Labor Code. Texas has a Labor Code too. New York calls its version the Labor Law. Illinois uses the Illinois Compiled Statutes, written "ILCS." Colorado uses the Colorado Revised Statutes, written "C.R.S."

A code is simply the organized collection of a state's statutes. Start on each state's official legislature website. Search for the plain phrase, then try the legal wording: "discharged," "terminated," "separation," "final compensation." Colorado's statute does not say "fired" at all. It says "an interruption in the employer-employee relationship by volition of the employer."

For a closer look at the kinds of law you will meet, see our guide to the types of primary law in the US.

Step 3: Read the regulation under the statute

Many statutes hand the details to an agency. The agency writes regulations, which have the force of law. Read both.

In Texas, the statute sets the deadline. A separate rule from the state labor agency sets what counts as wages owed at separation. Under that rule, vacation pay and sick leave pay are payable at separation "only if a written agreement with the employer or a written policy of the employer specifically provides for payment." The statute alone would not tell you that. Our post on state regulations shows how many exist.

Step 4: Check that each source is current

Open the official site and look for a date, edition or "current through" note. Then ask two questions. Was the section changed recently? Is a change coming? Write the date you looked. Our post on legal data freshness explains why a source can lag behind the law.

Step 5: Record each answer with citation and date

Use the same columns for every state: the state, the citation, the answer in plain words, the date checked, and a notes column. Keep a short quote of the key words from the statute. A reviewer can then verify each row in a minute.

Step 6: Flag the states where the answer depends on something else

Mark any state where the answer turns on a court decision, a local rule, a type of worker, an industry, or an employer's own written policy. A table that looks clean but hides these conditions is the most common way a survey misleads.

Worked example: final pay after a firing

I read each text on the official state site in October 2026. The wording below is quoted or closely paraphrased from the statutes.

The same event gives five different answers. California says now. Colorado says now, with a short grace period. Texas allows six days. New York and Illinois tie it to payday.

You can read two of these yourself. Here is the Texas statute and the California statute. The Texas rule on fringe benefits is at the Texas Secretary of State.

Notice the flags. Texas looks simple until you reach the rule on vacation pay. Illinois looks simple until you reach the vacation sentence. A survey that stopped at the deadline would miss both.

Common mistakes

• Using the wrong edition. A cached page, an old PDF or a printed book may show last year's law. Always note the edition and the date.
• Citing a repealed section. A repealed section (one the legislature ended) can stay in blog posts and summaries for years. Check each section's status.
• Ignoring the regulation. The Texas example shows why. The statute and the rule answer different parts of the question.
• Forgetting DC and the territories. Washington, DC has its own code. For final pay after a firing, D.C. Code § 32-1303(1) requires payment "not later than the working day following such discharge." Puerto Rico and other territories write their own law too. Decide in Step 1 whether they are in scope.
• Trusting a summary. Law firm charts and library guides help you find the section. Read the section itself before you put it in your table.
• Missing the exception. California's section 201 includes a special rule for seasonal work in canning and similar trades. Read the whole section.

Doing it faster

Vaquill AI's API can search a topic across a list of states in one request. It returns matching sections with their citations and links to the official source. It can also start from one state's section and return similar provisions in other states, ranked by how close they are. That gives you a candidate list for each state. You still read each section and check the date, as in the steps above. Our post on statute of limitations by state shows what a finished multistate comparison looks like.

If you want the data behind a survey like this, see the legal API.

This guide is part of US Law Data: The Complete Guide, a map of where US law comes from and how to use it.

FAQ

What is a 50-state survey?

It is a table that compares what the law of each state says on one question. Lawyers, compliance teams and business owners use it to see where a rule is strict, loose or missing before they expand into new states.

How long does a 50-state survey take?

It depends on how tight the question is. A narrow question with a clear answer goes fast once you know where to look in each state. A broad question can take weeks. Narrowing the question in Step 1 saves the most time.

Do I need a lawyer to run one?

Yes, for the final review. A lawyer should read the finished table before you act on it, because some answers depend on court decisions and facts a table cannot show. Counsel can also help you pick the question in Step 1. This guide is not legal advice.

Does "50 states" include DC and the territories?

Not automatically. Many surveys cover the 50 states only. Washington, DC and territories such as Puerto Rico have their own laws. Decide this at the start and write it at the top of the table.

What do I do if a state has no law on my question?

Record it as "no statute found," with the words you searched and the date. Then ask a lawyer whether a court decision or a regulation fills the gap. An empty search does not prove nothing applies.

How often should I update a survey?

Check each source on a schedule that matches how fast the topic moves. Fast-moving topics such as privacy or artificial intelligence deserve a recheck every few months. Stable topics can wait a year. Always show the date checked on each row.

Priyansh Khodiyar

Co-Founder & CTO

Priyansh leads engineering and AI at Vaquill AI: the pipelines that pull statutes, regulations and court rules from every US jurisdiction's official publisher, and the REST API, MCP server and open dataset that serve them.