California Cultivation Licenses Top Counties

Some notable trends emerged through New Frontier Data’s analysis of where California’s 3,040 cultivation licenses have been issued as of July 18.

• Out of the 27 participating counties, Santa Barbara and Humboldt account for more than half (52%) of the active growers licenses.
• Monterey and Merced counties mark the state’s unofficial southern divide, there are 17 northern counties holding 1,530 licenses (averaging 90 per), and 10 southern counties averaging 151 apiece.
• With an estimated 10,000 growers in Northern California’s Mendocino County alone, it has but 430 (14%) of the state’s licenses.
• The disconnect between growers and licenses suggests that regulators have a monumental task ahead in transitioning cultivators to the legal market, with major implications for the state’s illicit market.