The Same Vape Cart Costs 163% More in Illinois Than in Michigan

Median vape pricing across Crushed's six tracked states ranges from $16.09 in Michigan to $42.25 in Illinois — a 163% spread for what's nominally the same product category, cartridge for cartridge.

Michigan's price sits low for the same reason it always does: retailer density. Nearly 600 stores and 405 brands are competing to move vape inventory there, and that competition compresses margin. California tells a similar story from a different angle — despite carrying the most retailers (896) and brands (675) of any state in this set, its $26.60 median lands near the cheap end too. More sellers, more SKUs, lower clearing price.

Illinois inverts the pattern. With only 200 retailers and 215 brands stocking vapes — fewer of each than every state here except Arizona — it still posts the highest median price in the group. Scarcer shelf space means less pressure to discount.

The same state pair bookends Crushed's flower price-gap piece: Michigan cheapest, Illinois priciest, there too. That repetition across two unrelated categories suggests the premium isn't about vapes or flower specifically — it's structural, tied to how many stores are competing for each dollar in a given state. Shoppers in tighter-licensed markets are paying for scarcity, not necessarily quality.