Employment in the legal cannabis industry will decline slightly in 2025 — by 2.7%, according to Vangst and Whitney Economics’ annual US cannabis jobs report. The report links the job losses to a 3.3% drop in US cannabis sales and price compression.

“In-store shopping data shows that the number of items in a consumer’s basket, in most states, stayed about the same or increased slightly over the past year. At the same time, the value of the transaction — the total cost of the goods in the basket — remained flat or decreased. That’s a great value deal for consumers, but it puts retailers on the edge — with inflation driving up fuel, utilities, contracted services, etc.” – “2026 US Cannabis Jobs Report”

Of the top 10 cannabis job markets in the US, only four – New York, Massachusetts, Missouri and New Jersey – saw job growth from 2025 to 2026. The remainder – California, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Illinois – all saw year-over-year job losses.

It’s the second year in a row – and the third since 2017 – that the legal cannabis industry in the US has seen a reduction in its workforce. From 2022 to 2023, the industry saw a 2% decline; from 2024 to 2025, there was a decrease of 3.5%. However, there are still 412,500 jobs in the industry, the report says.

New York added the most jobs last year with 16,160, followed by Maryland (3,500), Ohio (2,596), New Jersey (2,468) and Oregon (374). California saw the most job losses at 17,123, followed by Florida (5,270), Illinois (3,000), Michigan (2,500) and Arkansas (1,920).

The report found that legal cannabis sales in the US reached $29.1 billion in 2025, but notes that legal sales represent only 30% to 35% of the country’s total demand for cannabis.

Sixty-seven percent of Gen Zers consume cannabis, with 28% reporting daily use, according to a EduBirdie Survey published last month. Eighteen percent of respondents said they use cannabis several times a week, with 8% saying they use it several times a month, 13% saying they only used cannabis on special occasions, and 6% saying they only tried cannabis once.

Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they have never tried cannabis.

Over a quarter (27%) said they spend between $50 and $100 a month on cannabis, while 21% spend between $100 and $200; 16% spend between $20 and $50; 12% spend less than $20; 11% spend between $200 and $500; 10% spend nothing; and 3% spend more than $500.

According to the survey, almost half (48%) had consumed cannabis before a family event, while 36% had consumed cannabis before a date; 26% had used cannabis before a work meeting; 27% had consumed before the exam; 25% before a job interview; 22% before a class or lecture; and 15% before a team building event. Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they had not used cannabis before a significant event.

The majority (55%) of respondents said they do not consume cannabis while working from home, in the office or on campus; while respectively 35%, 17% and 12% of the respondents have admitted that they have consumed cannabis in those countries.

The majority of respondents (53%) said they used cannabis to relieve stress, while 29% said cannabis improves creativity, 22% said it improves performance, 16% said it causes anxiety and 14% said cannabis causes forgetfulness. Only 2% of respondents said that cannabis had “no noticeable effects”.

Most respondents said that cannabis has no negative impact on their lives; however, 17% said they had spent money they could not afford on cannabis; 15% had serious arguments with their family about the use of cannabis; and 12% had suffered physically or mentally. The majority of respondents (68%) said they had never experienced negative effects from someone else’s cannabis use.

The survey also found that 42% of respondents were completely open about their cannabis use, while 13% said they hid it from a partner or family; 12% hid it from colleagues; and 10% hid it from their friends.

The survey included 2,000 US Gen Z participants (ages 21-29) recruited online.

Pre-rolls were the top-selling product category in the US cannabis industry in 2025, according to a recent Custom Cones USA REPORTcompiled from survey insights and sales data from cannabis analytics firm Headset.

The report found that sales of pre-roll cannabis generated $3.6 billion in revenue last year, with more than 383 million units sold — a 15.9% market share for the US industry.

Pre-rolls also saw more growth last year than any other product category, according to the report, with nearly 10% year-over-year growth and an 18.6% increase in sales, continuing a five-year trend.

By 2025, the cannabis flower had consistently surpassed other product categories of the industry.

“Pre-rolls are no longer an afterthought. What started as a byproduct of cutting, pre-rolls have matured into a highly competitive, innovation-driven category where brands are winning through quality, scale and smart branding.” – Harrison Bard, CEO of Custom Cones USA, in a press release

The report also highlights the rapid growth of multi-pack pre-rolls last year, but noted that single-pack, 1-gram pre-rolls remain the category’s best-performing format, earning $1.44 billion in 2025.

The survey results showed that most pre-roll manufacturers predict that injected pre-rolls will be the next big industry product trend.

Furthermore, millennials are the most frequent consumers of pre-rolls, accounting for about 44% of total sales.