{"id":4416,"date":"2022-02-23T16:03:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T16:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/wp-home\/?p=194844"},"modified":"2022-02-23T16:03:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T16:03:07","slug":"the-us-cannabis-industry-now-supports-321000-full-time-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=4416","title":{"rendered":"The US cannabis industry now supports 321,000 full-time jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <title>The US cannabis industry now supports 428,059 jobs | Leafly<\/title>     <!-- This is Index Exchange, a script\/\/3rd-party integration that interjects GAM. It needs to be 'ahead' of GTM in the DOM, which comes from Cephalopod. GTM loads GAM. This script needs to setup it's interjection stuff before GAM loads. --> <!-- End Index Exchange --> <!-- Quotes = strings--><!-- No quotes = boolean-->\t   <!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.5 (Yoast SEO v17.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->                  <!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- BEGIN Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END Sailthru Horizon Meta Information -->  <!-- Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- End Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --><br \/>\n <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->   <\/p>\n<div id=\"copy_clipboard_success\" class=\"fixed top-0 left-0 right-0\">\n<div class=\"bg-white p-lg container mt-xl flex justify-between elevation-low rounded\"> <span class=\"flex items-center\">     <span class=\"ml-md\">Link copied to your clipboard<\/span> <\/span> <button id=\"copy_clipboard_close_btn\">    <\/button> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->   <title>Leafly<\/title>     <title>Leafly \u00ae<\/title>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              <title>Loading\u2026<\/title>                     <\/p>\n<div class=\"bg-white fixed flex hidden inset-0 items-start md:h-auto md:items-center overflow-auto\" id=\"age-gate-container\">\n<div class=\"bg-white md:h-auto mx-auto p-lg text-sm w-full\" id=\"age-gate\">\n<p><label for=\"select-country\">Where are you from?<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"age-gate__info\">\n<p><button class=\"button\" data-testid=\"age-gate-no-button\" id=\"tou-cancel\">no<\/button><button class=\"button ml-md\" data-testid=\"age-gate-yes-button\" id=\"tou-continue\">yes<\/button><\/p>\n<p><label class=\"checkbox__label my-xl\"><span class=\"text-xs\" id=\"remember-user-label\">Remember me for 30 days. <br \/>I confirm that this is not a shared device.<\/span><\/label><\/p>\n<p class=\"error error--underage hidden\">Darn! You&#8217;re not old enough to use Leafly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"hidden age-gate__loading\">Redirecting you to<span class=\"redirect-domain\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-xs mt-auto\">By accessing this site, you accept<br \/>\nthe <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"tou-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/terms-of-use\">Terms of Use<\/a><br \/>\nand <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"pp-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container my-xl\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col md:col-9\" id=\"article-content\">\n<p>How many jobs are in America\u2019s legal cannabis industry?<\/p>\n<p>The 2022 Leafly Jobs Report found 428,059 full-time equivalent jobs supported by legal cannabis as of January 2022. Last year, the cannabis industry created an average of 280 new jobs per day. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-left\">\n<p>Cannabis is now a $25 billion business in the United States. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s a 33% increase in jobs in a single year. And it marks the fifth year in a row of annual jobs growth greater than 27%. <\/p>\n<p>The annual Leafly Jobs Report, produced in partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/whitneyeconomics.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Whitney Economics<\/a>, is the nation\u2019s most comprehensive cannabis employment study. <\/p>\n<p>Read and download the <a href=\"https:\/\/leafly-cms-production.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22132544\/LeaflyJobsReport2022.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">full report<\/a> below. <\/p>\n<div class=\"leafly-table-of-contents w-full relative\"><button class=\"w-full text-left text-sm bg-leafly-white py-xs px-sm font-medium\" type=\"button\" id=\"tableOfContents\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Jump to a section<\/span><span class=\"caret\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><\/div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/leafly-cms-production.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/18122113\/Leafly-JobsReport-2022-12.pdf\"><img width=\"1978\" height=\"2560\" alt class=\"wp-image-194668 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/the-us-cannabis-industry-now-supports-321000-full-time-jobs-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/the-us-cannabis-industry-now-supports-321000-full-time-jobs-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/the-us-cannabis-industry-now-supports-321000-full-time-jobs-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/the-us-cannabis-industry-now-supports-321000-full-time-jobs-1.jpg,compress&amp;w=1480 1480w\"><\/a><figcaption>We count cannabis jobs because the federal government won\u2019t. (Click image to download the full <a href=\"https:\/\/leafly-cms-production.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/18122113\/Leafly-JobsReport-2022-12.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Leafly Jobs Report 2022<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-we-count-cannabis-jobs-because-cannabis-jobs-count\">We count cannabis jobs because cannabis jobs count<\/h2>\n<p>Federal prohibition prevents the US Department of Labor\u2019s Bureau of Labor Statistics from counting state-legal marijuana jobs. <\/p>\n<p>Since 2017, Leafly\u2019s news and data teams have filled that gap with a yearly analysis of employment in the legal cannabis sector. <a href=\"https:\/\/whitneyeconomics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Whitney Economics<\/a>, a global leader in cannabis and hemp business consulting, data, and economic research, has partnered with Leafly on the project since 2019.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Those 428,059 jobs include direct cannabis jobs like cultivation and retail sales\u2014what are often called \u201cplant-touching jobs\u201d\u2014as well as indirect ancillary jobs that serve licensed companies or depend on legal cannabis sales. Ancillary jobs include work in accounting, human resources, legal affairs, regulatory compliance, security, maintenance, and construction. Also included are indirect jobs in cannabis media, technology platforms, public relations, lobbying, non-cannabis product suppliers, and industry associations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img width=\"2434\" height=\"1476\" alt=\"chart-of-cannabis-job-growth-over-past-5-years\" class=\"wp-image-194893 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/the-us-cannabis-industry-now-supports-321000-full-time-jobs-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/the-us-cannabis-industry-now-supports-321000-full-time-jobs-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/the-us-cannabis-industry-now-supports-321000-full-time-jobs-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/the-us-cannabis-industry-now-supports-321000-full-time-jobs-2.jpg,compress&amp;w=1480 1480w\"><figcaption>Cannabis jobs have grown at a rate of at least 27% per year for the past five years. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"state-that-indicate-market-trends\">Nine states that indicate market trends<\/h2>\n<p>This year\u2019s Leafly Jobs Report takes an in-depth look at nine states we consider leading indicators of economic health in the cannabis industry.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"arizona\">Arizona<\/h3>\n<p>The first year of adult-use sales in 2021 resulted in Arizona\u2019s cannabis industry adding roughly 2,600 jobs, for a total of 23,333 jobs supported by legal cannabis.<\/p>\n<p>This addition of adult-use sales gave the state\u2019s overall cannabis market a 31% boost over 2020. Arizona\u2019s licensed adult-use stores and medical dispensaries sold a total of $1.35 billion in cannabis products in 2021, $320 million more than the state\u2019s medical-only dispensaries sold in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Why the 31% increase in sales, but only a 13% increase in hiring? It\u2019s because we factored most of the state\u2019s adult-use hiring boom into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/industry\/cannabis-jobs-report-2021\">last year\u2019s cannabis jobs calculation<\/a>. In January 2021, many companies had already increased their payrolls in anticipation of recreational sales starting that month.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"california\">California<\/h3>\n<p>California remains the nation\u2019s leading cannabis employer, with $5.1 billion in 2021 sales supporting 83,607 jobs. After a 64% growth spurt in 2020, the state\u2019s cannabis market eased into a more moderate 15% revenue gain in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Job growth generally tracks with revenue, but not exactly. Headcount increases lagged in 2020 due to the constriction of investment capital and a greater reluctance to commit to new hiring amid the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic. Investment money and hiring confidence crept back into California in early 2021.<\/p>\n<p>California\u2019s structural problems\u2014sky-high cannabis taxes, suffocating red tape, and local cannabis store bans\u2014continue to hold back the industry, however.<\/p>\n<p>Five years after California voters passed Prop. 64, only 32% of the state\u2019s local jurisdictions allow the sale of regulated weed. Those local bans prop up the illicit market and have led to an oversupply of growers and an undersupply of licensed stores.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"florida\">Florida<\/h3>\n<p>Florida\u2019s medical marijuana boom continued in 2021, with sales of $1.5 billion supporting 25,895 jobs.<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s rising medical marijuana patient count drove the past year\u2019s growth, with 200,000 residents added to Florida\u2019s registered patient list. At 656,000, the state\u2019s medical marijuana patient population is nearly twice the size of other large medical-only markets like Pennsylvania and Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<p>Florida also continued to improve access, with 399 dispensaries licensed as of early 2022. That\u2019s a 33% increase\u2014nearly 100 new dispensaries\u2014added over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, Florida\u2019s still-growing medical marijuana patient population represents only 3% of the state\u2019s 21 million residents. Legalizing and regulating the adult-use market could double the state\u2019s sales and jobs within one to two years. Arizona, a state with one-third of Florida\u2019s population, recorded $1.35 billion in sales in its first adult-use year. A similar opening in Florida could yield a $4 billion annual market supporting more than 70,000 jobs.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"illinois\">Illinois<\/h3>\n<p>The Illinois marijuana industry sold $1.78 billion in products in 2021, supporting 28,992 legal cannabis jobs. Sales were up 73% over 2020. That\u2019s astonishing, because the state continues to lag in true revenue and job-creation potential due to a dramatically constricted number of retail stores.<\/p>\n<p>With 103 adult-use stores and 55 medical dispensaries, Illinois currently licenses only 12 stores per million residents. Compare that to states like Oregon (181 stores per million residents), Massachusetts (54 per million), or Michigan (51 per million), and Illinois\u2019 access problem becomes clear.<\/p>\n<p>The good news: 185 more retail licenses\u2014 most of them issued to social equity applicants\u2014are in the pipeline. The bad news: They\u2019re being held up by lawsuits that threaten to put them on ice indefinitely, draining capital from startup companies and leaving thousands of new jobs uncreated.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"massachusetts\">Massachusetts<\/h3>\n<p>Massachusetts continues to operate a robust and well-regulated cannabis industry, with $1.65 billion in total 2021 sales supporting 27,212 jobs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That $1.65 billion revenue figure represents an 81% increase over 2020 sales. Massachusetts continues to bring more licensed retail stores online, with 387 retail licenses approved as of early 2022, up from around 270 in late 2020.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s moderate expansion has allowed Massachusetts to continue migrating consumers away from the illicit market and has added to the state\u2019s job count in the legal regulated industry.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"michigan\">Michigan<\/h3>\n<p>Cannabis sales in Michigan shot up 81% in 2021, reaching $1.79 billion and supporting 31,152 jobs. That 72% annual growth in jobs puts Michigan behind only California and Colorado in terms of total state cannabis employment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Michigan maintains robust medical and adult-use markets, with 402 dual (adult-use and medical) retailers, 47 adult-use stores, and 63 standalone medical provisioning centers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With no cap on the number of retail licenses, Michigan\u2019s regulatory system is making strong progress in moving the state\u2019s full cannabis demand into the licensed and regulated market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Local municipal prohibitions against legal sales continue to prop up the illicit market, however. Of the state\u2019s 1,700 cities and townships, only about 160 allow licensed adult-use sales.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Whitney Economics estimates Michigan\u2019s full cannabis demand, for a state of 10 million residents, at around $3.2 billion\u2014which means the current legal system is fulfilling just over half the demand. There\u2019s still a lot of illicit-to-legal market migration to come.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"new-jersey\">New Jersey<\/h3>\n<p>New Jersey\u2019s constricted and poorly regulated medical marijuana system sold roughly $189 million in cannabis products last year, which supported 3,147 jobs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s patients have long suffered under one of the nation\u2019s most overpriced and least accessible medical marijuana programs. New Jersey closed out 2021 with 123,000 registered medical marijuana patients, served by only 23 operating dispensaries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, New Jersey\u2019s marijuana regulatory system is a mess. Nobody in state government tracks medical marijuana sales, so nobody knows how much was sold, or to whom. The state imposes a tax on medical cannabis\u20144% during the first half of 2021, 2% for the second half\u2014but officials with the New Jersey Division of Taxation could not tell us how much revenue those taxes brought in. In other words, the state tax department doesn\u2019t know where the cannabis tax money went.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"new-york\">New York<\/h3>\n<p>In 2021, New York\u2019s licensed dispensaries recorded $149 million in sales in a medical market that now supports 2,358 jobs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With only 40 licensed dispensaries to serve 20 million New Yorkers, the Empire State continues to be one of America\u2019s most constricted and underserved medical marijuana markets. That dysfunctional system drives patients\u2014and jobs\u2014 to the illicit market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, roughly 140,000 New Yorkers held medical marijuana cards. With reasonable access, that patient population would spend $378 million per year, based on the national $2,700 per year patient spending average. That would support more than 6,000 jobs. But it doesn\u2019t.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Instead, tax revenue data reveal that patients spend an average of $1,130 per year at New York\u2019s state-licensed dispensaries. That\u2019s less than half the national average. New Yorkers aren\u2019t needing less medical marijuana, they\u2019re just obtaining it outside the legal system.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"oregon\">Oregon<\/h3>\n<p>Oregon consumers purchased $1.18 billion in cannabis products in 2021, a 7% increase over the previous year. As of January 2022, Oregon\u2019s legal cannabis market supports 19,938 jobs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As one of the nation\u2019s most mature adult-use states, Oregon\u2019s relatively slow and steady growth conforms to a pattern we\u2019re seeing play out in Colorado, Washington, and other early rec-legal adopters. After experiencing enormous growth in annual revenue during the first five years of adult-use sales, those markets are reaching a point of natural maturation as most illicit market consumers complete the migration to the legal market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-xxl wp-block-leafly-blocks-leafly-related-articles\">\n<p><h2>More about cannabis jobs<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"author-box\" class=\"p-lg my-xxl bg-white rounded border border-light-grey elevation-low\">\n<div class=\"mb-lg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/the-us-cannabis-industry-now-supports-321000-full-time-jobs.jpg\" alt=\"Bruce Barcott and Beau Whitney's Bio Image\" class=\"lazyload inline-block mr-md rounded-full border border-light-grey\"> <\/p>\n<p>Bruce Barcott and Beau Whitney<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"text-sm\">Bruce Barcott is a Leafly senior editor and the executive producer of Leafly Reports. Beau Whitney is the founder of Whitney Economics, one of the world&#8217;s leading cannabis and hemp economic data consulting firms.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"text-sm font-bold underline text-green\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/author\/bruce-barcott-and-beau-whitney\">View Bruce Barcott and Beau Whitney&#8217;s articles<\/a> <\/div>\n<div class=\"leafly-sailthru-signup p-lg my-xl bg-white rounded elevation-low border border-light-grey\">\n<p class=\"text-xs pt-lg\">By submitting this form, you will be subscribed to news and promotional emails from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\">Leafly<\/a> and you agree to Leafly&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/tos\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. You can unsubscribe from Leafly email messages anytime.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat -->  <!--\nPerformance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: https:\/\/www.boldgrid.com\/w3-total-cache\/ Served from: _ @ 2022-02-24 04:33:42 by W3 Total Cache\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US cannabis industry now supports 428,059 jobs | Leafly Link copied to your clipboard Leafly Leafly \u00ae Loading\u2026 Where are you from? noyes Remember me for 30 days. I confirm that this is not a shared device. Darn! You&#8217;re not old enough to use Leafly. Redirecting you to By accessing this site, you accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. How many jobs are in America\u2019s legal cannabis industry? The 2022 Leafly Jobs Report found 428,059 full-time equivalent jobs supported by legal cannabis as of January 2022. 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