At most legal US dispensaries, flower costs $10 to $15 per gram. Budget shelves sit around $5 to $8, and premium brands climb to $18 to $25. The package price matters less than the math behind it, so a $40 eighth works out to about $11.40 a gram while a $55 eighth is closer to $15.70.
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The short answer, with context
That $10 to $15 range reflects retail shelf pricing before tax in competitive markets. It is not a national number. Cannabis is state-regulated, so the same strain can cost twice as much two states over. Wholesale flower might leave a grow for $1 to $5 a gram depending on grade and market, and everything after that adds cost: testing, packaging, compliance, retail overhead, and excise tax.
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What moves the price up or down
- State and local taxes. Excise plus sales tax often adds 15% to 35% at the register. Some cities stack their own fees on top.
- Grade. Popcorn buds, shake, and older harvests cost less. Hand-trimmed, high-THC, fresh-dropping cultivars cost more.
- Supply. States with heavy cultivation and few stores trend cheap. States with limited licenses trend expensive.
- Package size. Bulk always wins per gram. A half ounce rarely costs twice a quarter ounce.
- Testing and compliance. Mandatory potency, pesticide, and mold panels are real costs that land in the sticker price.
Convert package prices to per-gram prices
Most menus list weights, not per-gram rates, so keep the divisors handy:
- 1 gram = the listed price
- Eighth (3.5 g) = divide by 3.5
- Quarter (7 g) = divide by 7
- Half ounce (14 g) = divide by 14
- Ounce (28 g) = divide by 28
A $120 ounce sounds steep until you divide it out to $4.29 a gram. A $15 single gram sounds cheap until the eighth next to it is $30.
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Where prices run high and low
Mature markets with lots of licensed growers and stores, like Oregon and Colorado, routinely see $5 to $10 grams. Tightly licensed states and newer programs, like Illinois or New York, often sit at $15 to $20 and up. Medical programs sometimes carry lower taxes than adult-use, which narrows the gap without closing it.
Other formats cost differently
- Pre-rolls: often $8 to $15 each, and the per-gram rate is usually worse than loose flower unless you buy multi-packs.
- Shake and trim: the cheapest flower option per gram, but potency and freshness vary a lot.
- Concentrates: $20 to $60 a gram is normal. You use far less, so the per-dose cost can compete.
- Vapes: priced per cartridge, not per gram, and hardware is baked into the cost.
How I shop a menu
I sort by price per gram, not by package price, and I check the harvest or package date before anything else. Older flower is where the discounts hide, and it is also where the disappointing jars come from. Then I look at the tax line at checkout, because the sticker and the receipt are rarely the same number. Buying an eighth instead of a gram to test a new cultivar saves money per gram and tells you more. If the per-gram price still looks high, wait for a weekly deal rather than downgrading to shake you will not finish.