New York cannabis sales off to a record start in 2026
With New York cannabis sales off to a record start in 2026, the state is on pace to sell more cannabis than California by the end of the decade, state regulators say.
After a banner year in 2025, New York cannabis sales are off to a record start in 2026, state regulators said Thursday. Empire State marijuana retailers recorded almost $250 million in sales “through the first three weeks of February alone,” putting the state on pace to hit $2.6 billion in 2026, according to the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).
Going forward, that means New York is poised to sell more cannabis than California by the end of the decade, OCM Acting Executive Director John Kagia claimed. “New York’s cannabis market is not just expanding, it is strengthening,” Kagia said during a state Cannabis Control Board (CCB) meeting on Thursday.
Can New York Sell More Cannabis Than California?
Long considered one of the nation’s most promising and most under-performing markets, New York saw its legal cannabis market off to a slow start thanks to lawsuits and bureaucratic delays. That seemed to turn around last year.
According to updated OCM numbers, New York cannabis sales hit $1.7 billion in 2025, a tenfold increase from 2023, the first full year of sales. Kagia also made some bold predictions: If growth trends continue, annual New York marijuana sales could increase to $4.6 billion by 2028. That would make New York the biggest market by sales in the country.
However, these predictions suggest New York would remain immune to the price compression and illicit market woes that have sent legal sales in mature markets like California and Michigan tumbling.
How Many Cannabis Licenses are in New York?
The CCB also approved 20 new business permits during its meeting on Thursday. There are now 2,161 licensed cannabis businesses in New York, according to OCM.
These include:
245 cannabis cultivators
232 distributors
321 microbusinesses (allowing cultivation and retail sales)
532 processors
506 retail dispensaries
According to OCM, 56% of all business licenses statewide were issued to social-equity applicants—including 325 cannabis retailers. Including medical cannabis operators with dual-use permission and microbusinesses, there are 606 active cannabis stores in New York.
New York Needs More Cannabis Cultivation, State Says
Despite the robust sales growth and expanding retail capacity, New York’s marijuana market still has some growing pains to solve. In a nod to concerns over New York’s cannabis supply, the CCB committed to reviewing pending applications for cultivation licenses that were submitted in late 2023.
Many industry observers have said that the state doesn't have enough cultivation capacity to meet demand, leading to allegations of so-called “inversion” of hemp-derived THC or cannabis grown outside of the state entering legal channels.
Current New York production capacity is at about 588,000 pounds of cannabis annually, Kagia said. While just over half of the nearly 9 million square feet of permitted canopy is operational, fulfilling future demand might require three times as much supply.
To do that, the board signed off on a commitment to approve cultivators wishing to expand capacity and to process pending permit applications from a December 2023 queue. OCM received nearly 7,000 applications for business licenses during application windows in late 2023.
