Chicago may be raking in the weed tax revenue, but our city ranks just No. 15 nationally in weed friendliness, according to a study by the real estate website Real Estate Witch.
Why it matters: Illinois dispensaries sold $1.38 billion of recreational marijuana in 2021, while 60 new craft-growing licenses and 55 new dispensary licenses will be awarded in 2022.
Yes, but: Despite promises to create the most socially equitable marijuana laws in the nation, Illinois has almost no minority-run dispensaries.
State of play: A 2021 Pew Research Center study found that 91% of Americans believe recreational and medical-use marijuana should be legal, up from 41% in 2012.
Methodology: The Real Estate Witch study considered legality, Google Trends data and weed prices.
- It also weighed the number of music festivals and even the number of Taco Bell restaurants per 100,000 residents.
By the numbers: One ounce of high-quality weed goes for an average of $343 here, compared to $318 nationally.
- Lollapalooza helped set a new state monthly record for weed sales last summer at $128 million.
- Chicagoans are 50% more likely than the average American to search for a wide variety of marijuana-related terms on Google.
Of note: Milwaukee was considered one of the least-friendly weed towns in the U.S.
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