Is there a better time to look at an entire year than when it is over? The answer is probably yes. However, the 2025 New York cannabis market report was released this week, making this the moment to look back at the market's performance over the past year. Let's dive into the numbers.
Cannabis sales in 2025
As of November 30, 2025, combined adult use and medical cannabis sales reached roughly $1.6 billion, which is definitely an increase when compared to $1.0 billion in 2024 and $317.4 million in 2023. As it's the case in other state with both medical and recreational program, the growth was mainly driven by the adult use segment as medical sales continued to decline. New York City led regional sales, followed by Long Island.
Retail expansion seemed to have been one of the contributing factors that fueled this growth. Adult use dispensaries increased from 34 at the end of 2023 to 519 by November 30, 2025.
According to the report, early mover advantage is real. Early store openings benefited from limited competition and unusually high per store sales in 2023. But every day is not Sunday, and with new dispensaries coming online, that dynamic inevitably changed. As of Q3 2025, sales per store averaged roughly $3.8 million, with Long Island, Mid-Hudson, and New York City outperforming due to population density and spending power.
© Iakov Filimonov | Dreamstime
Market prices
A similar story can be told about market prices. Average retail prices peaked in early 2024 and declined roughly 15% through Q3 2025, settling near $32. Prices remained about 10% higher downstate compared to upstate, but overall pricing was largely consistent statewide. At the same time, while lower prices may have benefitted consumers with better accessibility and shifting the attention towards the regulated market, margin compression can hinder profitability for operators, the report notes.
Licenses
Licensing activity continued at volume. In 2025 up until the end of November, OCM processed 2,362 licenses and 798 renewals across adult use, medical, and hemp. As of November 30, 2025, 2,008 adult use licenses were active, including 249 cultivators, 465 processors, 215 distributors, 770 retail dispensaries, and 309 microbusinesses. 55% of adult use licenses were issued to social and economic equity businesses.
The agency indeed focused quite a bit on equity in 2025, according to the report at least. Equity programming remained central to the agency's work. In 2025, OCM launched the first conditional adult use retail dispensary grant program, distributing $5 million in grants of up to $30,000 to 159 awardees to cover startup costs such as rent, security, and compliance improvements.
The closing remarks of the report obviously point out the priorities for the New York cannabis sector in 2026, such as expanding environmental monitoring and reassessing regulations. By the end of 2025, it's pretty safe to assume that the New York's cannabis market had moved past its launch phase.
Source: cannabis.ny.gov
