How states tax cannabis
You will see lists ranking states by their cannabis tax. Most of those lists are wrong, and not by a little. States do not all tax the same thing. Some take a share of the shelf price. Some take a share of the wholesale price, which is a smaller number to start with. Some charge by weight. One charges by strength. Putting those four in a single ranked column compares things that are not the same, so this page groups them by what each state actually taxes instead.
Adult-use cannabis excise operates under four structurally distinct regimes: ad valorem on retail price, ad valorem on wholesale price, specific by weight, and specific by THC potency. ⛔ Rates across these are not commensurable — a wholesale percentage applies to a materially smaller base than a retail one, and a per-ounce charge is invariant to price entirely — so ranking them in a single column, as most published comparisons do, produces an ordering with no economic meaning. ⚠️ Most of these states also apply general sales tax on top, and in several the sales tax base includes the excise.
25 states
A percentage of the retail price
The commonest design. The tax is a share of what you actually pay at the counter, so it rises and falls with the price of the product.
| State | Excise | General sales tax too? |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 16% | Yes — 5.6% |
| California | 15% | Yes — 7.25% |
| District of Columbia | 6% | Yes — 6% |
| Delaware | 15% | local sales tax only |
| Illinois | not a single rate — varies by band | Yes — 6.25% |
| Massachusetts | 10.75% | Yes — 6.25% |
| Maryland | 12% | Yes — 6% |
| Maine | 14% | Yes — 5.5% |
| Minnesota | 15% | Yes — 6.88% |
| Missouri | 6% | Yes — 4.23% |
| Montana | 20% | local sales tax only |
| New Mexico | 13% | Yes — 4.88% |
| New York | 13% | no |
| Ohio | 10% | Yes — 5.75% |
| Oregon | 17% | no |
| Rhode Island | 13% | Yes — 7% |
| Virginia | 21% | Yes — 5.3% |
| Vermont | 14% | Yes — 6% |
| Washington | 37% | no |
A percentage of the wholesale price
Charged further up the chain, before the retail markup. A wholesale rate and a retail rate of the same number are not the same tax — the wholesale one applies to a smaller base.
Dollars per ounce of weight
A fixed charge per ounce regardless of price or strength. Its real value falls as prices rise, and it lands hardest on cheaper product.
| State | Excise | General sales tax too? |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | not a single rate — varies by band | local sales tax only |
| New Jersey | not a single rate — varies by band | no |
By potency
The tax follows the THC content rather than the price or the weight. It is the newest design and the only one that targets the active ingredient directly.
| State | Excise | General sales tax too? |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | not a single rate — varies by band | Yes — 6.35% |
Where there is no single rate to quote
Four states do not have one cannabis tax rate at all. The amount changes with the weight band, or with how strong the product is, or both. Rather than pick a number and present it as the rate, this page names the mechanism and leaves the figure out. A made-up average would look tidier and tell you less.
Alaska, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey publish no single excise rate: liability varies by weight band, by product form, or by measured potency. ⛔ No representative figure is substituted: the statute is modeled and the rate refused, because a single number here would be an estimate presented in the formatting of a computed fact. The state revenue authority's own schedule governs in each case.
Source: Tax Foundation, recreational cannabis tax rates by state — an aggregator compilation, pending per-state re-sourcing (ACCURACY-BACKLOG §14) · as of 2026-01-01 ·check it yourself