How much does buying legal cannabis really cost, tax included?How much does a cannabis purchase really cost, tax included?
Example price
$60
Example all in
$71
tax included
Example earn first
$101
Single filer on $75,000 in Harris County, Texas. Your calculator below uses your settings.
Legal weed carries some of the highest tax of anything you can buy — Colorado's own rate alone is about 17.9%, and cities often add even more on top.
Legal cannabis carries one of the steepest combined tax rates of any everyday purchase — Colorado's legal-market rate alone is about 17.9%, and local cannabis taxes often push it higher still.
Take Colorado as an example. The state adds about 15% in a special cannabis tax. Then it adds its regular about 2.9% sales tax on top. That comes to about 17.9% before your city adds anything. Many cities add their own cannabis tax too, which pushes the real total higher. Every legal state does this its own way, so your state may not match.
Using Colorado as a representative legal-market example: a about 15% state excise tax plus about 2.9% state sales tax already adds about 17.9% to the sticker price — before any local cannabis tax, which many cities layer on top and can push the combined rate substantially higher. Cannabis tax structures vary significantly by state and aren't modeled state-by-state here.
- We use Colorado's state-level rate only — about 15% excise plus about 2.9% sales tax, about 17.9% total. Local cannabis taxes, which are common and often significant, aren't included, and other legal states tax cannabis differently than this.Modeled on Colorado's STATE-LEVEL rate only (about 15% excise + about 2.9% sales = about 17.9%) as a representative legal-state example — local cannabis taxes (common, and often substantial) are not included, and this is not state-by-state accurate for other legal markets.
- This only works if cannabis is legal where you live. We assume you're buying it legally.Only legal in states that have legalized recreational or medical cannabis — this category assumes you're purchasing legally.
There is no legal adult-use cannabis retail market here, so there is no lawful purchase for this figure to price. What you see is a Colorado purchase, shown for comparison only.
The income tax in this figure is still computed from Texas and your filing status.
to cover cannabis (legal states)
- Income tax (federal, FICA, state)30%$30
- Excise tax11%$11
- Cannabis (legal states)60%$60
- Income tax (federal, FICA, state)
- Excise tax
- Cannabis (legal states)
Data for nerds — sources, confidence and assumptions
Data for nerdssources, confidence, assumptions
Where each number comes from
| Component | Amount | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Item price | $60.00 | Your figureHigh confidence. You supplied this, so it is exact by definition. |
| Excise tax | $10.74 | StatutoryHigh confidence. This number is the law — federal, FICA and state tax rates are published rates, so the only real risk is staleness. |
| Income tax to earn it | $29.81 | StatutoryHigh confidence. This number is the law — federal, FICA and state tax rates are published rates, so the only real risk is staleness. |
Jurisdiction applied
- State:
TX - Local income tax: none selected
Assumptions
- We use Colorado's state-level rate only — about 15% excise plus about 2.9% sales tax, about 17.9% total. Local cannabis taxes, which are common and often significant, aren't included, and other legal states tax cannabis differently than this.
- This only works if cannabis is legal where you live. We assume you're buying it legally.
- Modeled on Colorado's STATE-LEVEL rate only (about 15% excise + about 2.9% sales = about 17.9%) as a representative legal-state example — local cannabis taxes (common, and often substantial) are not included, and this is not state-by-state accurate for other legal markets.
- Only legal in states that have legalized recreational or medical cannabis — this category assumes you're purchasing legally.
Sources
If this is a habit
$52,286 over 10 yrsCannabis (legal states), every week — $5,229 of income every year, and 4 work weeks of your life.
Year by year
| Year | Spent | Invested instead |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,678 | $3,678 |
| 2 | $7,357 | $7,614 |
| 3 | $11,035 | $11,826 |
| 4 | $14,714 | $16,332 |
| 5 | $18,392 | $21,154 |
| 6 | $22,071 | $26,313 |
| 7 | $25,749 | $31,834 |
| 8 | $29,428 | $37,740 |
| 9 | $33,106 | $44,061 |
| 10 | $36,785 | $50,824 |
Prices and wages are held at today's levels, and the return above is inflation-adjusted to match — consistent by design. The invested-instead line assumes the cash is contributed at the end of each year and left alone; it is an alternative use of the same money, never an extra cost on top.
Your position in the tax system
29.65% on the next dollarEvery extra dollar you earn is taxed at your marginal rate, not your average one — which is why a purchase costs more to fund than a paycheck stub suggests.
Marginal rates are read in gross-income terms: below the standard deduction an extra dollar of pay adds nothing to taxable income, so the true rate there is 0%, not the lowest bracket's. Excludes pre-tax deductions (401(k), HSA), which would lower all three.
Same purchase, different state
TX is #7 of 51The purchase inputs and income stay the same. Your row uses your calculator settings; other states use example counties and omit local income tax. Spread across all 51: $14, from Alaska to Oregon.
- $101
- Texasyou$101
- $115
Choose a state name to compare against somewhere else.
Where every dollar goes
30% never reaches youThe $100.55 you must earn, followed to where it lands. Select a band to isolate it.
- Federal income tax$22.12
- FICA (Social Security + Medicare)$7.69
- Cannabis (legal states)$60.00
- Excise tax$10.74
Each tax layer is the extra tax this purchase causes — that layer's tax at your income subtracted from its tax at your income plus the gross-up — so bracket boundaries the purchase straddles are handled correctly rather than smoothed over with an average rate.
Is a raise actually a raise?
you keep 70%A raise arrives on top of everything you already earn, so it is taxed at your marginal rate — not the average rate on your whole salary.
Federal, FICA, state and any local income tax — no pre-tax deductions, benefit changes, or payroll withholding quirks, all of which move the real figure. Moving into a higher bracket never taxes the income below the threshold: only the dollars above it pay the higher rate.
Keep going
What you must earn to buy it
A $75,000 Texas salary
| Sticker price | $60.00 |
|---|---|
| Out of pocket | $60.00 |
| Income tax on earning it | $25.29 |
| Hours of work | 2.4 hr |
29.65% of that pay never reaches the purchase.
This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include excise taxes.
If the money stayed put
A $75,000 Texas salary
| Spent today | $60 |
|---|---|
| Growth given up | $47 |
| Pay needed to buy it | $85 |
Assumes a 6% annual return that you can edit. This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include excise taxes.
A year of that habit
A $75,000 Texas salary
| Spent a year | $15,600 |
|---|---|
| You must earn | $22,175 |
| Times a year | 260 |
Work hours include time spent earning the tax. This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include excise taxes.
What it adds up to
A $75,000 Texas salary
| Cash paid | $7,200 |
|---|---|
| Hours of work | 7.1 work weeks |
| A year | $720 |
| Growth given up | $2,290 |
Today’s price held constant; no price rises assumed. This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include excise taxes.
Questions people ask
Why does a small regular cost need such a big salary behind it?
Because you pay it out of what is left, and what is left is the small end of your salary. Every dollar spent on this has already been through income tax and payroll tax, so a cost that repeats has to be earned again and again at the gross rate — not the net one.
Is the tax on this the same wherever I am?
Broadly. The charge on this category is federal or does not exist at state level, so one national figure is the honest answer. What still varies is your income tax, and that is the earning side rather than the spending side.
What does this figure leave out?
Some things, and they are written down on this page rather than left for you to discover. Tax rules for this category have edges the model does not follow — the note below says which ones, so you can tell whether your own case sits inside the figure or outside it.
Why does a recurring outlay require disproportionate gross income?
Consumption is funded from post-tax income, so required gross income is the outlay divided by one minus the marginal rate on the relevant income slice. For a recurring cost that grossed-up figure recurs at the same cadence, which is why annualised gross requirement exceeds the nominal annual outlay by the full marginal wedge.
Why is this purchase modeled nationally rather than per state?
This category's spend-side treatment is uniform nationally: either the levy is federal, or no state imposes a general sales tax on it. A single national figure is therefore accurate rather than a simplification. Earn-side liability remains state-dependent and is computed separately.
What are the stated limits of this category's model?
Modeling limits for this category are stated explicitly on the page rather than inferred. They typically concern classification edge cases, per-item caps, or local levies outside the modeled base. Where a limit applies to a reader's specific purchase, the figure should be treated as a lower or upper bound as the note describes.