With the House of Representatives recently passing a new bill that would decriminalize marijuana use on a federal level, the lawn care services marketplace LawnStarter has unveiled the 2022 ranking of the best and worst cities to get stoned in the U.S.
LawnStarter ranked 97 of the most populated U.S. cities where adult non-medical use and commercial sale of marijuana were fully legal based on 12 key indicators of a smoking good time, which are as follows:
- Access
- Legality of home cultivation
- Marijuana dispensaries per square mile
- Average consumer rating for marijuana dispensaries
- Head shops per square mile
- Number of cannabis collectives
- Number of cannabis delivery services
- Number of cannabis consumption lounges
- Number of 420-friendly accommodations
- Munchies
- Fast food over-friendliness
- Cheese lover-friendliness
- Community
- Number of cannabis tours
- Number of cannabis events
What is the stoner capital of the world?
According to LawnStarter’s 2022 ranking, the stoner capital of the world is California’s San Francisco City. Scoring 18 points higher than 2021’s gold medalist (Denver), San Francisco dominated the Access category and also gave a great performance in the Munchies category at No. 4. However, consumers find many of San Francisco’s dispensaries a bit of a drag, as the city only earned a middling 42 average rating for cannabis dispensaries.
2022’s Best Cities for Stoners
- San Francisco, CA
- Denver, CO
- Las Vegas, NV
- Long Beach, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Oakland, CA
- Pasadena, CA
- Portland, OR
- Torrance, CA
- San Diego, CA
Securing the second spot in the 2022 ranking is Denver. The city in Colorado fell from last year’s top spot to this year’s second place partly due to the new metrics introduced in the latest ranking. For instance, Denver only placed 30 overall in the Munchies category. Despite these, Denver continues to ride high on Colorado’s first-mover advantage, ranking high in access to dispensaries, consumption lounges, and 420-friendly lodging.
As seen in the ranking above, seven out of 10 of the best cities to get stoned in the U.S. are located in California, making it the best state to get totally baked. After all, the Golden State is the true marijuana reform pioneer, as it was the first U.S. state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996.
2022’s Worst Cities for Stoners
- Chula Vista, CA
- Rockford, IL
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Syracuse, NY
- North Las Vegas, NV
- Norfolk, VA
- Bridgeport, CT
- Newport News, VA
- Chesapeake, VA
- Newark, NJ
New York, New Jersey, and New Mexico, along with Connecticut and Virginia, joined the league of fun-weed states in 2021. Most of the cities in these five states ranked low in this year’s ranking, which makes total sense as they have just started building up the necessary infrastructure to be one of the best weed cities in the country.
Check out LawnStarter’s full ranking and complete analysis here.