A census of the green economy: measuring marijuana employment, businesses, and payroll in four states

Zhaochen He, Travis K. Taylor, Martin Andersen and Beau Whitney

Applied Economics, 2025, vol. 57, issue 10, 1056-1069

Abstract: The recent legalization of cannabis across many U.S. states affords economists an opportunity to observe the birth, development, and consolidation of a new industry. The present study characterizes the disposition of this nascent sector of the economy in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, the first four states to permit recreational use. Using the method of generalized synthetic controls, we identify marijuana related business activity which would otherwise remain hidden due to the tendency of such firms to obfuscate the nature of their trade when reporting to government sources. We find that roughly 68,000 marijuana-related jobs have emerged in these states as of 2020, with a combined annual payroll of roughly 6 billion dollars. Across these states, the scale of the marijuana business rivals that for alcoholic beverages, and would approach the size of a 3-digit NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) sub-sector if viewed as a single industry.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2024.2311066

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