Illinois Approaches $4 Billion in Cannabis Sales; Out-of-State Numbers Continue to Slip

The Prairie State’s first quarter sales are up 6% over last year despite fewer Missourians crossing the state line to make purchases.

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Tony Lange

April 6, 2023

Illinois cannabis retailers registered their best first quarter on record since adult-use sales commenced in January 2020.

The state’s licensed dispensaries sold more than $383 million of adult-use cannabis in the first three months of 2023, representing a nearly 6% increase versus 2022, according to sales figures released by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).

The most recent quarter was backboned by $134.8 million in sales for March, the fourth best month on record, with figures from that 31-day period boosted from five Fridays—the busiest day of the week for cannabis retailers. Customers purchased nearly 3.3 million items for the month.

Overall, Illinois is just shy of $4 billion in cumulative adult-use cannabis sales since the commercial retail market launched a little more than three years ago.

The upward trend in first-quarter figures comes despite out-of-state resident sales for Illinois continuing to slip on the heels of adult-use legalization in Missouri.

Missouri, which shares more than 350 miles of real estate along the Mississippi River with Illinois, launched adult-use sales Feb. 3, just three months after Missouri voters approved Amendment 3 on the statewide ballot. In February, Missouri’s licensed dispensaries sold nearly $103 million in cannabis—including $71.7 million to adult-use customers—according to the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

That neighboring launch has resulted in Illinois’ cannabis sales to out-of-state residents dropping from 31% of the retail market in 2022 to 25.5% of the state’s market in February and 25% in March. A 5% decrease in out-of-state traffic is the equivalent of roughly $75 million in annual sales for Illinois.

This shift in the Midwest comes as neighboring Kentucky legalized medical cannabis on March 31, and while neighboring Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers continues to push for reform to the north.

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