The Texas Border Effect on New Mexico Cannabis
How the New Mexico–Texas line reshaped where cannabis is sold, Apr 2022 through Jul 2026
← Statewide sales data · All cities
Sunland Park: a town of 17,000 selling like a city
Sunland Park sits directly against El Paso, Texas, where cannabis remains illegal. It went from 3.5 percent of all New Mexico cannabis sales in April 2022 to 11.5 percent in Jul 2026, on a resident population of roughly 17,000. That ratio of sales to residents is only plausible if most purchases are made by people who do not live there. The product mix points the same direction: about 96 percent of Sunland Park's sales are recreational, against roughly 79 percent statewide (its most recent month was 96.3 percent recreational; the state was 79.5 percent). Medical purchases require a New Mexico patient card, so a store serving out-of-state visitors sells almost entirely recreational.
The border corridor as a group
Taken together, the ten border-adjacent cities in this analysis — Sunland Park, Chaparral, Anthony, Santa Teresa, Jal, Hobbs, Texico, Clovis, Vado and Mesilla — went from 11.3 percent of statewide sales in April 2022 to 26.4 percent in Jul 2026. Each one is within a short drive of a Texas population center: El Paso in the south, Midland and Odessa via Jal and Hobbs, Lubbock and Amarillo via Texico and Clovis. Statewide sales have been roughly flat since mid-2023, so the corridor's gain is largely a shift in where sales happen rather than growth in total demand.
Albuquerque shows the other side of that shift. Over the same period its monthly sales moved from $14,915,471 to $14,537,823 — essentially unchanged in nominal dollars, and a decline once inflation and the state's larger dispensary count are considered. The state's largest market did not shrink so much as stop growing while the border grew around it.
Buying in New Mexico is legal; carrying cannabis across the state line is not. For what that means in practice, see our guide on taking cannabis from New Mexico to Texas.
Border share vs. Albuquerque sales
Monthly figures
| Month | Border cities | Border share | Albuquerque | ABQ share | Statewide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2022 | $4,469,372 | 11.3% | $14,915,471 | 37.7% | $39,572,718 |
| May 2022 | $4,591,466 | 11.9% | $14,419,885 | 37.3% | $38,617,110 |
| Jun 2022 | $4,674,688 | 12.4% | $13,703,269 | 36.2% | $37,831,367 |
| Jul 2022 | $4,885,647 | 12.1% | $14,501,850 | 35.9% | $40,383,760 |
| Aug 2022 | $5,197,277 | 12.7% | $14,725,364 | 36.0% | $40,852,337 |
| Sep 2022 | $5,410,864 | 13.6% | $14,215,481 | 35.7% | $39,836,447 |
| Oct 2022 | $5,806,047 | 14.6% | $14,142,948 | 35.6% | $39,781,300 |
| Nov 2022 | $6,126,510 | 15.8% | $13,387,492 | 34.6% | $38,711,904 |
| Dec 2022 | $7,114,248 | 16.4% | $14,463,876 | 33.4% | $43,252,822 |
| Jan 2023 | $6,702,384 | 16.6% | $13,647,651 | 33.9% | $40,302,534 |
| Feb 2023 | $6,996,926 | 16.8% | $13,969,962 | 33.5% | $41,726,976 |
| Mar 2023 | $8,180,747 | 17.1% | $15,817,882 | 33.0% | $47,867,662 |
| Apr 2023 | $8,006,100 | 17.3% | $15,613,544 | 33.8% | $46,200,781 |
| May 2023 | $8,370,799 | 18.3% | $14,826,491 | 32.3% | $45,845,682 |
| Jun 2023 | $9,214,201 | 19.3% | $15,065,333 | 31.5% | $47,844,698 |
| Jul 2023 | $9,422,952 | 19.6% | $14,761,938 | 30.7% | $48,018,031 |
| Aug 2023 | $9,773,652 | 20.2% | $14,962,722 | 31.0% | $48,313,949 |
| Sep 2023 | $9,791,284 | 20.7% | $14,597,199 | 30.9% | $47,234,725 |
| Oct 2023 | $9,784,506 | 21.0% | $14,522,431 | 31.1% | $46,682,243 |
| Nov 2023 | $10,093,378 | 21.7% | $14,665,828 | 31.5% | $46,515,534 |
| Dec 2023 | $11,127,896 | 22.0% | $15,673,582 | 31.1% | $50,466,986 |
| Jan 2024 | $10,365,835 | 22.4% | $14,549,078 | 31.4% | $46,268,189 |
| Feb 2024 | $10,450,192 | 21.8% | $15,021,814 | 31.3% | $47,994,956 |
| Mar 2024 | $11,582,509 | 22.1% | $16,365,701 | 31.2% | $52,507,206 |
| Apr 2024 | $11,641,373 | 22.8% | $15,957,417 | 31.2% | $51,107,739 |
| May 2024 | $11,561,050 | 22.6% | $15,737,414 | 30.7% | $51,200,880 |
| Jun 2024 | $11,021,280 | 22.9% | $14,737,358 | 30.7% | $48,072,162 |
| Jul 2024 | $11,464,526 | 22.9% | $15,113,501 | 30.2% | $50,097,213 |
| Aug 2024 | $11,975,656 | 23.4% | $15,362,833 | 30.0% | $51,128,193 |
| Sep 2024 | $10,882,740 | 23.2% | $14,402,402 | 30.8% | $46,821,699 |
| Oct 2024 | $11,484,651 | 23.7% | $14,900,442 | 30.7% | $48,551,174 |
| Nov 2024 | $11,877,646 | 24.8% | $14,366,934 | 30.1% | $47,803,037 |
| Dec 2024 | $11,843,602 | 24.3% | $14,722,938 | 30.2% | $48,721,851 |
| Jan 2025 | $11,258,834 | 24.6% | $13,852,671 | 30.3% | $45,682,951 |
| Feb 2025 | $10,639,954 | 24.0% | $13,509,814 | 30.5% | $44,331,577 |
| Mar 2025 | $11,787,281 | 23.9% | $15,096,050 | 30.6% | $49,283,456 |
| Apr 2025 | $11,898,718 | 24.5% | $14,903,857 | 30.7% | $48,600,064 |
| May 2025 | $12,110,966 | 24.3% | $15,135,877 | 30.4% | $49,822,238 |
| Jun 2025 | $11,404,951 | 24.3% | $14,294,453 | 30.4% | $47,024,514 |
| Jul 2025 | $11,657,119 | 24.1% | $14,906,750 | 30.8% | $48,442,753 |
| Aug 2025 | $12,101,065 | 24.9% | $14,689,941 | 30.2% | $48,596,465 |
| Sep 2025 | $11,082,695 | 25.0% | $13,277,819 | 30.0% | $44,314,257 |
| Oct 2025 | $12,011,283 | 25.5% | $13,841,652 | 29.4% | $47,025,636 |
| Nov 2025 | $12,260,477 | 26.7% | $13,498,762 | 29.4% | $45,896,633 |
| Dec 2025 | $12,763,425 | 26.4% | $14,288,378 | 29.5% | $48,363,571 |
| Jan 2026 | $12,198,904 | 26.7% | $13,367,162 | 29.3% | $45,660,304 |
| Feb 2026 | $11,878,826 | 26.6% | $13,116,202 | 29.4% | $44,614,246 |
| Mar 2026 | $12,588,514 | 26.2% | $14,223,035 | 29.6% | $48,113,536 |
| Apr 2026 | $13,154,669 | 27.0% | $14,500,729 | 29.8% | $48,723,769 |
| May 2026 | $13,092,928 | 26.9% | $14,484,695 | 29.7% | $48,733,375 |
| Jun 2026 | $12,392,909 | 26.4% | $13,797,365 | 29.4% | $46,937,513 |
| Jul 2026 | $13,132,453 | 26.4% | $14,537,823 | 29.2% | $49,814,501 |
Cities in this analysis
Source: New Mexico Cannabis Control Division data catalog. Population figure for Sunland Park is a U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Figures are as published by the state and may be revised.