The Best Places to Find Jobs in the Cannabis Industry

Dozens of U.S. states have legalized marijuana, for either medical or recreational use. Today, the drug is at least partially legal in a total of 29 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia. While legalization comes as great news to anyone who enjoys the many medical benefits of marijuana, it also signals that new job opportunities in the legal cannabis industry will soon become available.

Overall Growth in the US

The overall growth of marijuana industry jobs began to increase significantly at the start of 2017. Throughout 2016, less than 200 jobs were added to the industry every quarter, but during Q1 of 2017, 345 new jobs were added. That rising trajectory continued throughout the year with a greater number of jobs added in each of the three subsequent quarters. In Q4, things hit an all-time high, with 1548 new positions added. This huge number is likely attributed to businesses preparing for the start of retail cannabis sales in California, which kicked off on the first day of 2018. In Q1 of 2018, the number of new jobs in the marijuana industry dipped back down to 582, a sharp decline from the record highs we saw in Q4 of 2017, but still the second best month for job growth in the industry to date.

Top 10 Cities for Cannabis Industry Jobs

According to ZipRecruiter internal data, the cities that had the most available cannabis industry jobs in 2017 were:

1. Denver, CO
2. Los Angeles, CA
3. San Francisco, CA
4. Seattle, WA
5. Portland, OR
6. Sacramento, CA
7. Spokane, WA
8. Miami, FL
9. Chicago, IL
10. Boston, MA

It’s no surprise that the cities with the best opportunities are major metropolitan areas located in states that have fully legalized marijuana use (Colorado, California, and Washington). The city with the most jobs in the cannabis industry (Denver, CO) advertised 413 open positions, while the number 10 city on the list, (Boston, MA) had 67 open jobs. Job seekers living in any of these top 10 cities should be able to find plenty of new cannabis industry jobs to apply for.

Top 10 Cities for Cannabis Industry Growth

We also took a look at cities with the most cannabis industry job growth. While they didn’t have as many total available jobs as the cities listed above, their impressive growth rates indicate that they could become popular places to find marijuana jobs in the future.

These are the 10 cities that had the biggest year over year job growth in the cannabis industry from 2016 to 2017:

1. Spokane, WA
2. Miami, FL
3. Deltona, FL
4. Baltimore, MD
5. Dallas, TX
6. Philadelphia, PA
7. New York, NY
8. Lincoln, NE
9. Chicago, IL
10. Pueblo, CO

The overall growth of the cannabis industry will create many new job opportunities for all types of job seekers, and drive economic growth in states that have legalized marijuana. Interested job seekers should have no problem finding marijuana industry jobs to apply to in Colorado, California, or Washington. What’s more? Rapid job growth in other states like Illinois and Florida suggests that as more states legalize marijuana, more and more jobs will become available throughout the country.

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