What are the biggest cannabis pre-roll trends in 2026?

Cannabis pre-roll is a $4.4 billion category, and it is growing faster than any other major segment in cannabis. The six biggest pre-roll trends reshaping the market right now are:

1. Pre-roll is the fastest-growing major cannabis category, up 13% year over year
2. Infused pre-roll has overtaken uninfused for the first time
3. Diamonds dominate infusion, while live resin is the fastest-growing type
4. Multi-packs are quietly reshaping format economics
5. Price compression is real, and it is hitting infused hardest in specific markets
6. The category is highly fragmented, with one dominant independent brand at the top

Pre-roll now accounts for 14% of all cannabis retail dollars, up from roughly 13% a year ago. That makes it the third-largest category behind flower and vape, and the only one of the three gaining share at a meaningful pace. But the top-line growth is only part of the story. Inside the category, the format mix has fundamentally reordered, premium infusion types are pulling away, and pricing is beginning to compress in ways that vary enormously by state.

1. Pre-roll is the fastest-growing major cannabis category

U.S. cannabis pre-roll sales reached $4.4 billion over the 12 months ending July 2026, up 13% year over year. That outpaces vape at 6% and flower by a wider margin, making pre-roll the fastest-growing major cannabis category. But the growth is not evenly spread. State-level adoption varies enormously, and where the category is strong or lagging is more telling than the national average on its own.

Where does pre-roll perform best? Penetration varies widely by market. As of July 2026, pre-roll’s highest share of total cannabis retail is in:

• New York: 23%, the highest of any major market
• Massachusetts: 20%
• Maine: 20%
• Washington: 19%

Pre-roll’s lowest share among major markets is in:

• Florida: 6%
• Ohio: 7%
• Colorado: 11%
• Oregon: 14%

Ohio’s low share comes with an important asterisk: the state only began allowing pre-roll sales in August 2025. In the eleven months since, pre-roll adoption has climbed steadily but has been slower than the category’s performance in other newly opened markets, and it still lags nearly every other state tracked here, including markets that have had pre-roll for years. Florida, by contrast, has had pre-roll available for far longer; its medical-only, vertically integrated market structure simply produces a smaller pre-roll-oriented consumer base. Colorado and Oregon are notable for a different reason: both are mature, long-established cannabis markets, yet pre-roll has never taken the same hold there that it has in New York, Maine, or Massachusetts.

The spread is striking. In New York, nearly one in four cannabis dollars goes to pre-roll. In Florida, it is closer to one in seventeen. Regulatory structure, product availability, and consumer habit all contribute, and the gap between the leading and lagging markets has not meaningfully narrowed over the past year.

Florida is worth a closer look on its own terms. It is a medical-only, vertically integrated market, meaning a small number of licensed operators control cultivation, processing, and retail end to end, with limited outside competition. That structure tends to produce a narrower, more conservative product mix than the open, multi-brand competition in adult-use markets. Florida’s low share is not a sign of a small market; it is one of the largest cannabis markets in the country by total dollars, just a different kind of market.

2. Infused pre-roll has overtaken uninfused for the first time

Infused pre-roll surpassed uninfused in total dollars for the first time during the past year, reaching $2.22 billion versus $2.15 billion. This is the defining structural shift in the category. A year ago, uninfused led at $1.95 billion versus $1.91 billion for infused. Today that order has reversed, with infused growing 17% year over year against 10% for uninfused. Infused share of pre-roll dollars crossed 50% in October 2025 and has stayed above it every month since.

Which states are most infused-forward? The state-level variation is dramatic, and it is the clearest signal of where the national number is headed. Infused as a share of each state’s pre-roll dollars in July 2026:

• Michigan: 71%
• Arizona: 69%
• California: 64%
• Washington: 54%
• New York: 54%
• Colorado: 55%

The most mature markets are already close to 70% infused. Michigan, Arizona, and California have held at these levels for a year, with Michigan holding around 70%, suggesting a natural ceiling somewhere near that level.

Which markets are moving fastest toward infused? The action is in the newer and mid-stage markets, though the dollar bases differ substantially:

• Ohio’s  brand new pre-roll market has accelerated to 47% infused, almost a year in, up from 35% just one month earlier. Ohio’s overall pre-roll category remains small at 7% of state cannabis sales, so this is a fast-developing market rather than a large one.
• New York  moved from 45% to 54%, crossing the 50% line. Given New York has the highest pre-roll penetration of any major market, this shift carries real dollar weight.
• Illinois  went from 41% to 50%, crossing the line this year.
• New Jersey  moved from 25% to 36%, a meaningful gain from a lower base.

These markets share something in common: a small number of large infused pre-roll brands entering and quickly taking real share. Jeeter had almost no infused pre-roll presence in New York or Illinois a year ago and is now the top infused pre-roll brand in New York and a top-three brand in Illinois. GTI’s Rythm and Dogwalkers had zero pre-roll sales in Ohio a year ago and are now established players there. In each case, a scaled brand’s entry lines up closely with the market’s infused share climbing, which suggests brand expansion is less a byproduct of the infused shift and more a leading indicator of it.

The economics reinforce the shift. In July 2026, brands selling infused pre-roll generated approximately $56,300 in monthly revenue per brand, compared to roughly $39,900 for brands selling uninfused. That is about 41% more revenue per brand, from a smaller field of competitors.

3. Inside infused pre-roll: diamonds dominate, live resin grows fastest

Not all infused pre-rolls are alike, and the infusion type mix reveals where premiumization is actually happening. Among classified infusion types over the past 12 months:

• Diamonds:  $699 million, up 34% year over year, and up 2.4 share points to 42% of classified infused dollars. By far the largest type, and still growing at a strong clip despite its scale.
• Resin:  $177 million, up 8% year over year, but down 2 share points to 11% of classified infused dollars. Large but losing ground.
• Distillate:  $148 million, up 21% year over year.
• Moonrocks:  $112 million, up 14% year over year.
• Live resin:  $96 million, up 49% year over year, and up nearly 1 share point to 6% of classified infused dollars. The fastest-growing named type in the category.
• Rosin:  $88 million, up 36% year over year.
• Kief:  $70 million, up 25% year over year.
• Hash and bubble hash combined:  $64 million, up 29% year over year.

Size context matters here. Live resin’s 49% growth rate is the headline number, but at $96 million it represents about 6% of classified infused dollars, compared to diamonds at 42%.

The pattern echoes what is happening in concentrates and vape more broadly. Solventless and live extraction methods, live resin and rosin in particular, are growing considerably faster than the category average, while distillate and standard resin grow more slowly or hold flat. Consumers who care about extraction quality are making that preference visible in their pre-roll purchases, not just their vape purchases.

4. Multi-packs are quietly reshaping pre-roll format economics

Pre-roll’s format story is about pack count, not individual size. The single 1-gram remains the largest format in the category at 29% of all pre-roll dollars, but multi-packs are driving the growth, with five-packs, ten-packs, and larger bulk formats growing 18% to 55% year over year while single-unit formats stayed roughly flat. The largest formats by dollar volume over the past 12 months:

• Single 1g:  $1.25 billion, 29% of all pre-roll dollars and the largest format in the category. Splits into $704 million uninfused (flat year over year) and $543 million infused (up 9%).
• 5-pack of 0.5g:  $683 million, 16% of all pre-roll dollars and the second-largest format. Splits into $498 million infused (up 23%) and $185 million uninfused (up 18%).

The singles are holding their ground in absolute dollars but losing relative position. The 5-pack of 0.5g infused, at nearly half a billion dollars and growing above 20%, is where the meaningful volume shift is happening.

Which formats are growing fastest?  Beyond the large established formats, several smaller multi-pack configurations are expanding rapidly. These are shown split by infused and uninfused, since the fastest movers skew heavily toward one or the other rather than growing evenly across both:

• 5-pack of 0.7g infused:  approx. $87 million, up 44%
• 10-pack of 0.35g uninfused:  approx. $60 million, up 55%
• 28-pack of 1g uninfused:  approx.  $61 million, up 44%
• 14-pack of 0.5g uninfused:  approx.  $53 million, up 29%

None of these individually rivals the single 1g or the 5×0.5g, but together they signal a consistent direction: consumers are buying more units per transaction, and brands are building SKUs to meet that.

Why do multi-packs matter for brands? They change the economics of a transaction. A multi-pack raises the price of the package while typically lowering the price per gram, which appeals to consumers on value while improving revenue per purchase for the retailer and brand.

Pack size also maps to distinct need states and usage occasions, which is part of why the format range keeps widening. A single 1-gram is a trial purchase or a one-off session. A five-pack of half-grams suits shorter, more frequent solo use across a week. Larger multi-packs of small joints might lend themselves to sharing and social settings, where a group would rather pass several small pre-rolls than one large one. Bulk formats like the 28-pack are a stock-up purchase for a regular consumer buying on price per gram. Building across those occasions lets a brand hold shelf presence at multiple price points without cannibalizing its own core SKU.

5. Price compression is real, and the state picture is where it gets interesting

Price compression is an expected feature of a maturing cannabis category, and pre-roll is not exempt. What is notable is that the compression is concentrated in infused, the premium half of the category, rather than in uninfused.

On a per-pack basis, infused pre-roll average retail price is $13.23 over the past 12 months and uninfused is $9.38, both essentially flat compared to the prior year. But those package prices are being propped up by the multi-pack shift described above: as consumers trade into five-packs and ten-packs, the price of the package rises even when the price of the cannabis inside is falling.

This is why the figures below use equivalized pricing, or EQ, which converts every pre-roll package to a common per-gram basis regardless of how many joints are in it or how large each one is. A five-pack of half-gram infused pre-rolls and a single 2.5-gram infused pre-roll both represent 2.5 grams of product, and EQ pricing lets them be compared directly. Without it, a market that is simply shifting toward larger packs can look like a market holding price. Measured this way, infused pre-roll fell from $6.40 to $5.79 per gram between July 2025 and July 2026, a 9.5% decline, while uninfused fell from $3.30 to $3.09 per gram, a 6.4% decline. Both formats are compressing, though infused is still falling faster.

Which markets are seeing the worst infused price compression? Measured per gram, comparing July 2026 to July 2025, the range across major markets is wide:

• Michigan:  $3.89 to $2.82, down 27%
• Arizona:  $7.99 to $5.84, down 27%
• Nevada:  $12.75 to $9.41, down 26%
• Colorado:  $8.45 to $7.14, down 16%
• Massachusetts:  $11.05 to $9.37, down 15%
• New Jersey:  $15.46 to $13.47, down 13%
• Illinois:  $14.11 to $12.32, down 13%
• New York:   $13.70 to $12.01, down 12%
• California:  $8.06 to $7.30, down 9%
• Washington:  $5.77 to $5.32, down 8%
• Missouri:  $13.57 to $12.62, down 7%

Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada stand apart. All three are seeing infused pre-roll prices fall roughly 27% per gram, nearly triple the national rate. Michigan is the most extreme case at $2.82 per gram, less than a fifth of New Jersey’s $13.47. And the compression there is not a mix effect: nearly every major infused brand in the state cut its own per-gram price over the year, including the market leaders. This is incumbents competing directly on price, not value brands displacing premium ones.

One nuance worth flagging: uninfused pricing is declining more slowly than infused in many markets, but the more likely explanation is that the lowest-price markets have already hit a natural floor rather than that uninfused is structurally more resilient. Nationally, uninfused fell 6% per gram over the same period that infused fell 9.5%, so the gap has narrowed since the category’s compression began. Michigan at $0.67 per gram and Oklahoma at $0.65 are essentially flat because there is little room left to fall — those markets compressed first and earliest. Meanwhile, markets that were still at premium uninfused prices a year ago are now compressing sharply toward the same floor: Massachusetts and Colorado have joined Missouri and New York among the fastest-compressing infused markets this month. The implication is that infused, which is still well above commodity pricing in most markets, likely has more compression ahead of it before it reaches a similar equilibrium.

6. The pre-roll brand landscape is highly fragmented, with one clear leader

Pre-roll’s competitive field is crowded. Over the past 12 months, more than 7,100 distinct brands recorded pre-roll sales nationally, making it one of the most fragmented categories in cannabis and notably more so than vape. Despite that, concentration at the very top is in line with vape: the ten largest brands account for approximately 21% of all pre-roll dollars, led by Jeeter at $240 million.

Who are the largest pre-roll brands? The top 10 by trailing 12-month sales:

• Jeeter:  $240 million
• Stiiizy:  $143 million
• Dogwalkers (GTI): $105 million
• Cali Blaze:  $70 million
• Rythm (GTI): $60 million
• Presidential Rx:  $57 million
• Sluggers Hit (Natura): $48 million
• ROVE Brands:  $45 million
• Good Day Farm:  $42 million
• Ruby Farms:  $35 million

Jeeter’s lead is decisive. At $240 million it is roughly 68% larger than the second-place brand and holds a position in pre-roll comparable to what the largest brands hold in other categories. An independent with no multistate operator parent, Jeeter sells in 7 states and counting, anchored in California. Notably, every dollar of that $240 million is infused pre-roll, making it both the category leader and a pure expression of the infused trend driving the category’s growth.

Stiiizy in second place is worth noting for a different reason. Stiiizy is best known as a vape brand, yet pre-roll represents roughly a fifth of its total cross-category sales, making it a genuine second pillar rather than a line extension. GTI is the only parent company with two brands in the top 10, with Dogwalkers positioned around the accessible everyday segment and Rythm serving as its premium flag.

The mix of independents and MSO-backed brands at the top is more balanced in pre-roll than in some other categories. Jeeter, Cali Blaze, Presidential Rx, Good Day Farm, and Ruby Farms all operate independently or as regional players, while Dogwalkers, Rythm, Sluggers Hit, and ROVE sit within larger portfolios.

What the 2026 pre-roll trends mean for brands, retailers, and investors

Pre-roll’s 13% growth is not an accident of category definition or a rounding artifact. It reflects real product development and a consumer base that has broadened well past the traditional flower smoker:

• Pre-roll is now 14% of all cannabis retail and the fastest-growing major category
• Infused has overtaken uninfused, and has held that lead for nine consecutive months
• Diamonds drive infused volume at $699 million, while live resin signals where premium demand is heading
• Multi-packs are growing 18% to 55% while singles stay flat, changing transaction economics
• Infused pricing is compressing about 9.5% per gram nationally, with Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada each down roughly 27%

For brands, the practical implication is that the infused crossover has already happened, and the competitive question has moved on to which infusion type and which pack format. For retailers, the multi-pack trend suggests real upside in basket size for markets where those SKUs are still underrepresented. The trends that matter most are not the ones already settled in the annual numbers. They are the ones still moving in the most recent months.

Want to learn more about cannabis pre-roll trends and market data?

BDSA’s Retail Sales Tracking covers category, brand, product, and product attribute trends for brands, retailers, and investors. Reach out to BDSA to learn more.