Eleven states are on pace to top the $1-billion benchmark in total retail sales at licensed cannabis dispensaries in 2024, including a pair of medical-only markets—Florida and Pennsylvania.
California, which was the fifth largest economy in the world in 2023, is projected to remain the world’s largest cannabis economy with more than $4.7 billion in adult-use and medical cannabis sales in 2024, according to monthly sales figures from the state’s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC).
But California is one of four industry juggernauts where sales are expected to shrink (-3.4%) this year compared to 2023 totals. Cannabis retail markets in Arizona (-7.5%), Colorado (-8%) and Washington (-3.3%) are also on the downturn.
Meanwhile, Maryland, which launched adult-use sales in July 2023, will be the newest state to join the billion-dollar sales club in 2024. The state’s licensed dispensaries are on pace to surpass $1.1 in sales, according to the Maryland Cannabis Administration.
Here, CBT provides projections for the top-performing cannabis retail markets in 2024 based on average monthly sales figures so far.
2024 Billion Dollar Cannabis Markets State
Adult-Use Sales Launch
Monthly Sales Average
Estimated 2024 Total Sales
Year-over-Year Growth California Jan. 2018 $393,734,760 $4,724,817,118 -3.4% Michigan Dec. 2019 $276,605,915 $3,319,270,984 8.6% *Florida Medicaln/a $2,148,400,000 6.1% Illinois Jan. 2020 $166,332,255 $1,995,987,065 1.8% Massachusetts Nov. 2018 $149,652,242 $1,795,826,907 0.2% Pennsylvania Medical$139,495,493 $1,673,945,914 9.4% Missouri Feb. 2023 $120,111,250 $1,441,335,000 7.7% Colorado Jan. 2014 $117,255,475 $1,407,065,694 -8.0% Arizona Jan. 2021 $111,295,925 $1,335,551,095 -7.5% Washington Jul. 2014 $100,382,018 $1,204,584,216 -3.3% Maryland Jul. 2023 $94,459,604 $1,133,515,252 43.8% States That Are Close Oregon Oct. 2015 $80,519,760 $966,237,117 1.1% New Jersey Apr. 2022 $79,898,628 $958,783,536 19.8% +Nevada Jul. 2017 $71,758,124 $861,097,492 4.4% Total n/a n/a $24,955,849,084 3.2%
*Florida sales are an estimate from Brightfield Group. All other estimates are based on CBT research and analytics. +Nevada’s 2024 sales projection is for adult-use sales only. All other states are for adult-use and medical sales unless otherwise noted.
California and Michigan
California’s 2024 projection, based on average monthly sales figures through July, represents a roughly $165 million decrease from 2023’s sales total of nearly $4.9 billion, according to the DCC. California’s retail market peaked at $5.35 billion in sales in 2021 and is now facing its third consecutive year of decline.
The lack of licensed retail options for much of the state—including 57% of cities and counties that do not allow any retail cannabis business, according to the DCC—coincides with a yearslong battle to stave off the unlicensed market, including Gov. Gavin Newsom’s current efforts via his office’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCET). Newsom announced Aug. 13 that the UCET seized nearly 2.3 million unregulated cannabis packages in Los Angeles that were masquerading as regulated products with a forged California seal.
“California is committed to supporting our safe and legal cannabis market,” Newsom said in a press release. “We will not tolerate criminal activity that undermines the legal market, especially when it puts children at risk.”
In early September, Newsom issued proposed emergency regulations in an attempt to ban intoxicating hemp products in California, which directly compete with the licensed cannabis market.
“We will not sit on our hands as drug peddlers target our children with dangerous and unregulated hemp products containing THC at our retail stores,” Newsom said.
California’s market decline in the past three years has left room for Michigan to close the gap with a still-growing retail landscape that’s projected to hit $3.32 billion in sales in 2024, an 8.6% increase from the $3.06 billion in 2023 sales, according to the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA).
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Two key metrics show Michigan’s upper hand on California:
Michigan has roughly 8.7 dispensaries per 100,000 people compared to California’s 3.2 dispensaries per 100,000 people; andMichigan’s cannabis sales represent roughly $330 per capita in 2024 compared to California’s roughly $120 per capita this year.
“Because the vast majority of cities in California continue to prohibit retail cannabis businesses, people in the state often have to drive an hour or longer to access a legal cannabis dispensary,” Hirsh Jain, founder of industry consultancy Ananda Strategy, told Cannabis Business Times.
“At the same time, they are surrounded by numerous illegal cannabis retailers that, despite occasional press releases about enforcement, generally operate with impunity,” Jain said. “These illegal operators, of course, do not incur any of the onerous costs that California imposes on its legal cannabis businesses. As a result, it is both inconvenient and expensive to purchase cannabis legally in California. Predictably, most California cannabis consumers remain in the illegal market.”
California levies a 15% excise tax on cannabis sales at retail, a rate that’s set to increase to 19% in 2025, in addition to a state sales tax that can range from 7.25% to 10.75% depending on the region and a local tax option, as well as other taxes that are often imposed elsewhere in the supply chain.
In Michigan, where it’s more convenient for people to shop in the regulated marketplace from a geographical sense, consumer demand remains as high as it’s ever been during the state’s fifth full year of adult-use sales. Michigan dispensaries are selling an average of 89,000 pounds of adult-use cannabis flower per month in 2024, a 12.8% increase from 2023, according to the CRA.
In July 2024, the average retail price for adult-use flower hit an all-time low of $79.70 per ounce in Michigan, according to the CRA. California’s average flower price packaged per half ounce in 2024 is roughly $50 at retail, according to the DCC.
Florida
Florida’s medical-only cannabis market is projected to eclipse $2.1 billion in dispensary sales in 2024, according to an estimate by industry research firm Brightfield Group. This makes Florida the third-largest cannabis market in the nation, even before the possibility of voters passing an adult-use legalization amendment in this November’s election.
Editor’s note: Florida is the only state in this report where a 2024 projected sales figure isn’t directly derived from a government source.
While Florida’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use doesn’t publicly provide sales figures for the state’s cannabis market, the regulatory authority does provide weekly updates on volumes of flower and THC sold in the Sunshine State.
According to these metrics, the program has shown steady growth in recent years with Florida’s Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers (MMTCs) on pace to sell 365,000 pounds of flower and more than 17.6 million grams of THC, representing 7.9% and 8.7% increases, respectively, compared to 2023.
Tallahassee-based Trulieve leads the state with 149 dispensaries, representing roughly 22% of Florida’s cannabis retail landscape, according to the Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU). Trulieve is on pace to sell nearly 141,000 pounds of medical cannabis flower at its Florida stores in 2024, representing 39% of the state’s flower market among 20 MMTCs with open dispensaries.
However, as the Sunshine State’s cannabis market has become more competitive, Trulieve’s retail flower market share isn’t as high as in years past.
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Overall, Florida has more than 886,200 qualified patients with active medical cannabis cards, according to the OMMU, representing about 4% of the state’s population.
Florida’s cannabis customer base could expand to all residents and out-of-state visitors who are 21 and older should voters pass Amendment 3—to legalize adult-use cannabis—with a 60% supermajority this November.
The likelihood of crossing this supermajority threshold increased Aug. 31, when 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump predicted the constitutional amendment would pass.
“In Florida, like so many other states that have already given their approval, personal amounts of marijuana will be legalized for adults with Amendment 3,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Whether people like it or not, this will happen through the approval of the voters, so it should be done correctly.”
On Sept. 8, he outright stated his support for Amendment 3 when he wrote, “As a Floridian, I will be voting YES on Amendment 3 this November.”
Illinois
Illinois’ cannabis market could crack $2 billion in sales for the first time since the state’s adult-use sales commenced in 2020—but it’s going to be close.
Licensed retail facilities in the Land of Lincoln are projected to hit $1.996 billion in 2024 based on combined adult-use and medical monthly sales averages through June, according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) and Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office (CROO). This estimate represents a 1.8% increase over 2023 sales.
When Illinois retailers crossed the $1-billion benchmark on July 1, 2024—nearly two weeks faster than in 2023—Gov. JB Pritzker boasted the state’s cannabis program as a national leader.
“Illinois has the most equitable cannabis industry in the country and it’s growing and thriving,” Pritzker said in a press release. “The increase in total adult-use cannabis sales, combined with the policies my administration is implementing to support communities ravaged by the war on drugs, highlights how this emerging industry is helping us set a national standard in equity and economic justice. Growing sales in 2024 means cannabis tax revenue will continue to play a major role in righting decades of wrongs in the state’s criminal justice system.”
Tax revenue collected from cannabis sales has led to more than $244 million in R3 Grants for economic development, violence prevention and youth development in disproportionately impacted communities across the state, according to the governor’s office.
The continued growth in the Illinois cannabis market is mainly attributable to in-state customers who represent a 77% share of adult-use sales in 2024, up from 69% in 2022. The drop in out-of-state sales is mainly attributable to neighboring Missouri launching adult-use sales in February 2023.
At their peak, Illinois dispensaries were ringing up $40 million per month in sales to out-of-state customers in 2022. The monthly average is down 19%, to $32.3 million, in 2024.
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Overall, Illinois has reported $7.7 billion in adult-use and medical cannabis sales in the 4 1/2 years since the state expanded its market to 21 and older customers in January 2020.
The average price for adult-use flower at retail is $262 per ounce in 2024, according to CROO.
Massachusetts
The days of being the lone New England state with an adult-use cannabis program are long gone for Massachusetts. So are the days of significant year-over-year growth in dispensary sales.
Licensed dispensaries are on pace to ring up nearly $1.8 billion in adult-use and medical sales in 2024 based on monthly totals through June, according to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC). In particular, the state is projected to finish the year with about $3.4 million more in sales than in 2023, representing a 0.2% increase.
Should the 2024 projection hold, Massachusetts will round out 2024 with a cumulative $8.5 billion in total cannabis sales since the state launched its adult-use market in December 2018.
YearAdult-Use SalesMedical SalesCombined Growth *2024 $1,599,490,707.24 $196,336,199.66 $1,795,826,906.90 0.2% 2023 $1,556,826,393.87 $225,630,069.78 $1,792,456,463.65 1.8% 2022 $1,488,674,521.04 $271,681,407.41 $1,760,355,928.45 7.1% 2021 $1,332,327,979.67 $312,088,169.94 $1,644,416,149.61 69% 2020 $702,609,593.36 $270,416,054.52 $973,025,647.88 76% 2019 $433,096,256.80 $120,715,928.25 $553,812,185.05 n/a 2018 $5,633,545.49 $473,934,704.57 $6,107,480.39 n/a Total $7,118,658,997.47 $1,870,802,534.13 $8,526,000,761.93 n/a
*2024’s sales total is estimated based on monthly sales figures through June.
After Massachusetts’ retailers crossed the $6-billion threshold in adult-use sales (since the program’s 2018 launch) in April 2024, CCC Commissioner Kim Roy said the state collected $135 million from cannabis’s 10.75% excise tax and 6.25% sales tax in 2023.
“Last week, over two dozen grants, some as large as $50,000, were awarded to equity applicants in the industry, and that really will go a long way and will be impactful to help them,” Roy said.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania represents the sixth-largest cannabis retail market in the nation despite having a medical-only program.
The Keystone State’s 181 licensed dispensaries are on pace to sell a staggering $1.7 billion in medical cannabis to Pennsylvania’s roughly 441,000 active patients in 2024, representing a 9.4% increase from 2023 sales, according to the state’s Department of Health (DOH).
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Pennsylvania’s cannabis retailers recently reported their best quarter on record with $425.8 million in sales for the three months ending June 30, 2024, according to the DOH.
Overall, Pennsylvania’s patients have spent more than $6.6 billion on medical cannabis in the 6 1/2 years since commercial sales commenced in February 2018.
Although pro-legalization Pennsylvania state lawmakers have continued to introduce adult-use bills this legislative session, no state in the nation has legalized adult-use cannabis via a divided legislature. In Pennsylvania, Democrats hold a two-seat majority in the House, while Republicans control a 28-22 majority in the Senate.
Pennsylvania is one of 24 states that does not provide for citizen-initiated ballot measures.
Missouri
Missouri is one of five states to crack the $1-billion benchmark in combined adult-use and medical cannabis sales during its first 12 months of an expanded marketplace—joining the likes of California, Illinois, Arizona and Maryland—following its February 2023 launch.
The Show-Me State’s roughly 210 licensed dispensaries are now on pace to ring up nearly more than $1.4 billion in adult-use and medical sales in 2024 based on monthly totals through August, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). This projection represents a 7.7% increase compared to 2023’s sales total.
However, the 2024 sales estimate is a conservative projection considering Missouri’s retail market is still growing. The state’s dispensaries reported a record $111 million in adult-use sales and $126.2 million in total sales (adult use plus medical) in August.
Missouri’s growing cannabis sales come as Gov. Mike Parson’s administration works to implement his executive order to ban products containing intoxicating hemp derivates, such as delta-8 THC. Specifically, the DHSS took steps to begin embargoing and condemning products with traceable amounts of these hemp-derived cannabinoids starting Sept. 1.
“We have seen the negative impacts of unregulated psychoactive cannabis products firsthand,” DHSS Director Paula F. Nickelson said in an Aug. 29 press release. “Numerous Missourians have been adversely affected by consuming foods laced with these products. Disturbingly, children in Missouri and across the nation have been hospitalized after ingesting these substances, and this is unacceptable.”
But the Missouri Hemp Trade Association is fighting back, suing the DHSS in a lawsuit seeking an injunction and declaratory relief.
Colorado
Although the oldest adult-use cannabis market in the nation is continuing to shrink in 2024, Colorado’s licensed dispensaries are still on pace to crack $1.4 billion in total cannabis sales in 2024, according to the state’s Department of Revenue (DOR).
This 2024 sales projection, based on monthly figures through June, represents an 8% market decline from 2023 and a staggering 37% decrease from the more than $2.2 billion in sales in 2021—the best year on record for Colorado dispensaries.
Colorado Adult-Use Sales Medical Sales Combined Growth *2024 $1,231,824,438 $175,241,256 $1,407,065,694 (-8%) 2023 $1,343,572,203 $185,752,350 $1,529,324,553 (-13.5%) 2022 $1,537,864,249 $230,824,588 $1,768,688,837 (-20.7%) 2021 $1,824,584,022 $404,410,531 $2,228,994,553 1.7% 2020 $1,748,552,311 $442,539,368 $2,191,091,679 25.3% 2019 $1,409,502,438 $338,488,190 $1,747,990,628 13.1%
*2024’s sales total is estimated based on monthly sales figures through June.
Despite this market decline, Colorado still ranks above average compared to its adult-use peers with a projected $240 spent on cannabis per capita in 2024, a mark that’s bested only by Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Montana, Nevada and Massachusetts, according to CBT’s analysis.
Since Colorado launched adult-use cannabis sales in January 2014, the state’s licensed retail facilities have sold roughly $16.5 billion in combined adult-use and medical cannabis, according to the DOR.
These sales, which include a 15% excise tax at retail, have provided the state with more than $2.7 billion in tax revenue, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a July 2024 letter supporting federal cannabis rescheduling to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.
This tax revenue has provided Colorado with “money for building schools, investing in early childhood and higher education, affordable housing, public safety, investing in infrastructure, the list goes on and on,” Polis wrote.
Arizona
Arizona’s cannabis retail market is facing one of the largest setbacks in the nation in 2024 compared to its adult-use peers.
The state’s licensed dispensaries are on pace to ring up $1.33 billion in total cannabis sales this year, representing a 7.5% decrease from the $1.44 billion in sales from 2023, according to monthly figures through May from the state’s Department of Revenue.
Arizona Adult Sales Medical Sales CombinedGrowth *2024 $1,062,643,896 $272,907,199 $1,335,551,095 (-7.5%) 2023 $1,097,263,452 $346,202,795 $1,443,446,247 (-3.7%) 2022 $980,970,958 $518,320,295 $1,499,291,253 3.8% 2021 $680,449,420 $764,358,937 $1,444,808,357 n/a Total $3,821,327,726 $1,901,789,226 $5,723,096,952 n/a
*2024’s sales total is estimated based on monthly sales figures through June.
However, in Arizona’s limited-license market of roughly 160 cannabis dispensaries, or about 2.2 stores per 100,000 people, the state’s retail market remains far from saturated compared to neighboring New Mexico, where approximately 1,000 licensed dispensaries are trying to capitalize on a roughly $600 million market in 2024, according to the state’s Regulation and Licensing Department.
This means the average dispensary in Arizona has the opportunity to bring in roughly $8.3 million in sales in 2024, while the average dispensary in New Mexico has the opportunity to bring in about $600,000 in sales in 2024, making Arizona the more attractive market by this metric.
Washington
Washington’s cannabis market is facing its third consecutive year of shrinking sales, as licensed dispensaries are on pace to ring up just north of $1.2 billion in 2024, according to monthly figures from the state’s Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) and Department of Revenue (DOR).
This projection represents a 3.3% decline from 2023 sales figures and an 18% decrease from a retail market peak of nearly $1.5 billion in 2021, according to data from the state agencies.
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The second-oldest adult-use cannabis market in the nation—launching sales to those 21 and older in July 2014—Washington levies the highest excise tax in the nation on cannabis sales at 37%. This excise tax is in addition to a 6.5% state sales tax and a local tax option that averaged 2.9% in 2023, according to the DOR.
This means Washington’s effective tax rate on cannabis dispensary sales was 48% in 2023, providing more than $575 million in revenue to state and local coffers.
While most states exempt medical cannabis patients with qualifying conditions from paying excise taxes, that wasn’t the case in Washington until recently.
In mid-March, Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation into law to exempt Washington’s patients from paying the 37% excise tax on products at dispensaries with a “medical endorsement.” There are 243 licensed dispensaries, or roughly 53% of the stores in Washington, that hold a medical endorsement, according to the Department of Health.
The law became effective June 6 and will remain in effect until June 30, 2029.
Before this law went into effect, medical cannabis sales represented roughly 1% of all cannabis sales in Washington for the past several years, according to the DOR.
Maryland
The newest state to join the billion-dollar club, Maryland is on pace to ring up more than $1.1 billion in adult-use and medical cannabis sales at licensed dispensaries in 2024, according to monthly figures from the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA).
Maryland dispensaries also cracked $1.1 billion in total sales in the first 12 months following the state’s launch of adult-use sales in July 2023.
In July 2024, licensed stores rang up a record $97.9 million, including $70.4 million in adult-use sales and $27.5 million in medical sales, according to the MCA.
Before the adult-use market launch, Maryland was averaging $40.2 million in medical-only sales during the first half of 2023. Since then, the overall market has grown roughly 144% and is still trending upward.
“Our new adult-use cannabis market isn’t only generating extraordinary economic activity—it’s also helping us build new pathways to work, wages and wealth for all,” Gov. Wes Moore said in a July press release. “Making Maryland more competitive means ensuring that everyone can reap the benefits of Maryland’s economic growth. This important milestone proves how our administration continually—and repeatedly—honors our deep commitment to that mission.”
While Maryland launched adult-use sales via roughly 100 existing medical retail facilities last year, the state reserved the first adult-use business licensing round exclusively for social equity applicants.
Maryland will be the newest state to join the 10-figure club this year, while three other states are expected to come just shy of the sales mark. Read More