Orange County ranks among Hudson Valley's top cannabis markets
Orange County had 17 licensed dispensaries by April, led by six in Town of Newburgh and three in Town of Wallkill, ranking second in the Hudson Valley.
Orange County has become one of the Hudson Valley’s strongest legal cannabis markets, with 17 licensed dispensaries spread across seven municipalities by April. The footprint is large enough to make the county second in the region only to Westchester, and it shows the industry is moving beyond a single commercial corridor into a countywide retail presence.
The distribution is striking. Six dispensaries were listed in the Town of Newburgh, three in the Town of Wallkill, two each in the City of Newburgh, the City of Port Jervis and New Hampton, and one each in Warwick and Wawayanda. That spread matters on the ground because it can affect storefront occupancy, local zoning decisions and which towns are positioned to collect cannabis-related tax revenue as the market grows.
The county’s rapid climb began after New York legalized adult-use cannabis on March 31, 2021, when the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act created the Office of Cannabis Management and the state’s regulatory framework. Orange County did not have a licensed adult-use dispensary until January 2024, but the county has since built a significant retail cluster as the legal market matured. State officials said New York had surpassed $3.3 billion in total adult-use retail sales since launch, and the state added more licensed operators in 2026, including 32 new adult-use licenses approved on May 7.
The numbers also point to where the money flows. The state says 25 percent of cannabis tax revenue goes to the county and 75 percent goes to the city, town or village where a dispensary is located, based on sales. Another 40 percent of adult-use cannabis tax revenue is directed toward communities harmed by the War on Drugs, making Orange County’s dispensaries part of a broader reinvestment strategy, not just a retail trend.
At the same time, the legal market is still expanding alongside enforcement against illicit sellers. The state says its crackdown has included nearly 500 sealing orders, 2,000 inspections and $125 million in illicit cannabis seized. With 667 licensed adult-use dispensaries statewide and 77 in the Hudson Valley, Orange County’s 17 stores show how quickly legal cannabis has become part of the county’s commercial map, and how much local towns now stand to gain, or miss, as the market settles in.
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