According to a new survey from a recruitment agency, budtenders in Canada want better pay, better hours, and a more straightforward path to advance in the industry.
Retail and manufacturing roles in the cannabis industry, such as budtenders, production technicians, and assistant managers, experienced modest pay increases in 2024, according to a new cannabis salary guide. Despite this, many budtenders continue to earn below a living wage in parts of the country.
At the same time, other positions in the industry command much higher compensation and opportunities for career advancement. While the average salary for budtenders was $17.20-$26.00 an hour, buyers and inventory managers made $55,000-$80,000 a year, and general managers made from $70,000-$100,000 a year.
On the production side, a cannabis packager might make from about $35,000-$65,000 a year, a director of extraction might make from about $80,000-$130,000 a year, and a VP of manufacturing could make from about $140,000-$220,000 a year.
Executive compensation remained stable during this period, with base salaries for C-level roles (such as CEO, CFO, COO) ranging from $150,000 to $300,000, although there’s also a growing use of performance-based bonuses and equity as retention tools.
The 2025 Cannabis Salary Guide from Toronto-based recruitment agency White Ash Group, which focuses on Canada’s cannabis industry, seeks to empower those working to better understand the workplace landscape.
“Hiring successfully in 2025 is all about alignment between compensation, culture, and career path,” says White Ash Group Co-Founder, Graydon Welbourn. “The most successful companies will be the ones that think beyond just filling roles and start building workplaces that people actually want to grow in.”
“We’re seeing noticeable salary growth at the VP and Director level—especially in operations and sales—which reflects the shift from startup hustle to scale-stage strategy,” he adds. “Companies taking things seriously are investing in experienced leadership to stabilize and compete long term.”
The guide goes beyond just cannabis production and retail sales, including cannabis industry jobs like marketing, sales, technology, research, finance, human resources, business operations, QA and compliance, and much more.
In addition to looking at the Canadian cannabis market, the guide also integrates information from eight different legal US markets with over 2,500 verified North American data points from craft and mid-size companies.
The guide also includes insights from the Canadian budtender community, the High Buds Club, which boasts membership from 20% of retail cannabis employees in Canada. Surveys with High Buds’ broad membership base show that about half of budtenders earn $18-$20/hour, and just over half feel their pay is fair compared to other retail.
Despite this, more than three-quarters (77%) of budtenders in Ontario earn below the provincial living wage of $21.67/hour (Toronto is $26 and Ottawa is $22.80). However, there are opportunities in the space. Over half (54%) of surveyed budtenders received a raise or promotion in the past year, although some employees feel it can be difficult to advance beyond the retail space.
According to High Buds, although many budtenders feel they are underpaid, members rate their job satisfaction at 7.4 out of 10. Most budtenders (62%) also say they feel they have influence on most sales in their store, emphasizing their importance in the supply chain from their perspective, despite many struggling to earn a living.
“We are experts in our field. We must know product knowledge and pride ourselves in knowledge and customer service,” said one anonymous budtender who participated in the survey. “I feel like we aren’t recognized enough for what we do. We are left scraping for pennies, living paycheque to paycheque, while others in fields less demanding than ours make more of a living. Making minimum wage is insulting, and it’s left me second-guessing if being a budtender is something I really want to do. I feel like there’s no growth in this industry, and we make companies big dollars, while every budtender I’ve talked to is struggling.”
Despite these frustrations, many respondents also shared that they were motivated by their love and passion for the plant.
“I love sharing my passion for cannabis with other like-minded individuals,” said another. “I am still blown away that it is legalized, and I am honoured to be a part of the growing industry.”
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion continue to also be a focus of the cannabis industry in Canada, even as priorities shift in other parts of the world. Organizations like the SEED Initiative, the BC Indigenous Cannabis Business Fund, and the Ontario Cannabis Store all have initiatives seeking to empower a more diverse cannabis industry in Canada.
You can see some examples of the many different jobs available in the Canadian cannabis industry in StratCann’s monthly job listings.
