U.S. Cannabis Market Legalization

Although the use of cannabis is illegal under the federal law and the federal government classifies cannabis as a schedule 1 drug, 80% of the U.S. states have legalized it in some form. Most states legalized it only for medical purposes, but 24 states – Alaska (2015), Arizona (2020), California (2016), Colorado (2012), Connecticut (2021), Delaware (2023), Illinois (2020), Maine (2017), Maryland (2023), Massachusetts (2016), Michigan (2018), Minnesota (2023), Missouri (2022), Montana (2021), Nevada (2017), New Jersey (2021), New Mexico (2021), New York (2021), Ohio (2023), Oregon (2015), Rhode Island (2022), Vermont (2018), Virginia (2021) and Washington (2012) – have gone further, legalizing the recreational use.

As a result, 40 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have effective medical cannabis laws, and 24 states, the District of Columbia (2015), Guam (2019), and the Northern Mariana Islands (2018) now allow cannabis for recreational use.

U.S. Cannabis Market Stats

The total economic output from legal cannabis grew 150% from $16 billion in 2017 to almost $40 billion in 2020, according to the “US Legal Cannabis: Driving $40 Billion Economic Output” report released by Arcview Market Research, in partnership with BDS Analytics.

The U.S. legal cannabis sales reached $17.5 billion in 2020 and $25 billion (about $18 billion of adult-use sales and $7 billion for medical sales) in 2021. Experts estimate that 2022 sales totaled around $27 billion, while 2023 sales reached almost $30 billion. There are more than 50,000 active licenses for cannabis businesses in the U.S. This includes cultivation, extraction and manufacturing, retail, distribution, transportation, and testing licenses.

The industry employed 211,000 people in 2018 and the number of full-time cannabis employees grew 17% to 247,300 in 2019. In 2021, 107,059 new jobs were created compared to 77,300 in 2020. As of 2021, there were 428,059 people employed in the cannabis industry, compared to 321,000 in 2020. The 2023 Vangst Jobs Report reveals there are now 417,493 full-time jobs supported by the legal cannabis industry in the US, a 2% drop in employment comparing to 2021.

Projected U.S. Cannabis Market Size

Experts estimate that 2024 cannabis sales could be as high as $35 billion according to the Arcview/BDS report. By 2027, combined medical and recreational cannabis sales in the United States are projected to exceed $40 billion.

U.S. Cannabis Market Infographics