(SeattleTimes) - Legal marijuana sales in Spokane County topped retail sales of wine and kitchen staples such as bread and milk last year.

That’s according to sales numbers from the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board and a survey of household expenses by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Not all marijuana sold in Spokane County is consumed by county residents. State law allows the 17 state-licensed pot shops in the area to sell to anyone older than 21, regardless of where they live.

But with monthly sales topping $5 million for the first time in March, retailers in the county are selling marijuana at an ever-quickening pace — on track to top receipts at area bookstores, museums and live-music venues, according to figures released by the Washington Department of Revenue.

Spokane County marijuana retailers reported a little more than $43 million in sales last year, according to the state Liquor and Cannabis Board. That’s an average $225.64 per household.

By comparison, retail beer sales were $232.70 per Spokane County household last year, according to the Consumer Expenditure Survey administered by the Census Bureau. The average household spent $154.85 on wine, $155.37 on milk and $109.71 on bread in 2015.

The calculated marijuana average ignores the “80/20 rule” — 20 percent of people are responsible for 80 percent of an effect, said Brian Smith, Liquor and Cannabis Board spokesman. An independent study by the Rand Corp. in 2013 found the rule applied to Washington’s nascent marijuana market — that roughly one-fifth of the population accounted for the vast majority of marijuana sales.

The Liquor and Cannabis Board tracks marijuana sales of $2.8 million a day statewide, Smith said. “That seems pretty robust,” he said.