Even though California has a mountain of problems and legal market sales are declining, it remains the state to beat.
The Golden State racked up more than $2 billion in legal cannabis sales in the first half of 2024. Despite strong competition from the illicit market and high state and local taxes, California still averages about $347 million in sales per month.
The only state that even comes close is Michigan, which recorded $1.6 billion in sales in the same time period. Michigan only began selling legal adult-use cannabis in 2019, but it quickly became a leader in the industry. Average monthly sales are $270 million.
While California may dominate the total legal sales category, Michigan far outstrips it on a per capita basis. In the first six months, California only registered a per capita sales for its 21+ population of $74.90; Michigan, on the other hand, reported a per capita figure of $233.97 for the same cohort.
The highest sale months for the two largest markets were March, April, and May. California and Michigan were the only two states to crack $1 billion in legal sales already this year.
Third-place Illinois logged $851 million in sales, while Massachusetts came in at fourth place with $795 million in sales. Newcomer Missouri slid into fifth with $709 million in sales. Adult-use cannabis sales in that state just began in February 2023.
Green Market Report compiled the sales figures from the legal states. The figures don’t take into account lowered cannabis prices or transaction volumes, which could affect total sales figures.
Medical marijuana
Adult-use cannabis tends to steal all of the attention away from the medical markets, which paved the way for the recreational industry. But several states continue to be legal for medical marijuana sales only, and two of those states are putting up such huge numbers that it’s hard to believe the consumers are strictly medical patients and not just recreational consumers.
Florida, where voters will decide in November whether to transition to an adult-use market, posted $985 million in sales for the first six months of 2024. That’s just shy of Illinois’ total legal sales (both medical and adult-use), which totaled $998 million.
Pennsylvania isn’t far behind with $835 million in sales so far this year, and coming in a distant third is Oklahoma with $300 million in sales.
After those three states, the numbers continue to drop dramatically, though some states, such as South Dakota, do not publicly release sales data for the cannabis industry.
Newbies
As the U.S. market continues to expand, it’s worthwhile to look back at how key markets performed in their first years of sales. Colorado tops the podium in this arena with a crazy $683 million in receipts during 2014. The state opened a whopping 306 stores to start and enjoyed a first-to-market honeymoon as many sales belonged to canna-tourists eager to buy legal products.
Nevada was in second place with $434 million in first-year sales from 61 stores; the southwestern state launched adult-use sales in the middle of 2017. Massachusetts took third place with $393 million in first full year of adult-use sales (2019).
New York just wrapped its first full year of legal adult-use sales. While the state is expected to rival California in size, it has been plagued with problems. The state only recorded $150 million in sales the first year, with 40 dispensaries. Massachusetts’ first-year sales were rung up on just 36 stores, so the argument that store count is depressing the New York sales figure doesn’t fly when compared to its neighbor.
Turmoil at the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, numerous lawsuits, and an adult-use program structure that is the total opposite of the medical marijuana program structure have resulted in lackluster legal sales. In addition to that, the massive proliferation of unlicensed stores has siphoned off thousands, if not millions, of dollars in potential sales, making the first year of adult-use sales pretty dismal.
That isn’t to say New York won’t recover. Once the state began to aggressively shut down unlicensed stores, sales jumped from $46 million in May to $71 million in June. The increase in monthly sales could also be attributed to more stores opening in the state as well.
Another positive marker for New York is that Michigan’s first year was lower than Colorado and Nevada, and it has gone on to rival California.