Gas Pain, Week of January 12, 2026

The U.S. average for regular gasoline slipped 2¢ to $2.78 a gallon for the week of January 12, 2026. Over the past 12 weeks it was down $0.26, from $3.04 to $2.78.

California was the most expensive state at $3.98, $1.20 above the national figure, with Washington at $3.65 and Alaska at $3.28 (West Coast excl. California regional average) next. At the other end Colorado was cheapest at $2.26, $0.52 below national, followed by Texas at $2.35 and New Mexico at $2.38 (Gulf Coast regional average). The gap between the priciest and cheapest state was $1.72 a gallon, which on a 15-gallon tank was $25.82 for the same fill. The ranking counts all 50 states, with the regional average standing in wherever EIA publishes no state figure.

Ohio climbed the most, up $0.15 to $2.69; Colorado (+$0.07) and Texas (+$0.03) also rose. Florida fell the most, down $0.14 to $2.60; Washington (−$0.06) and Alaska (−$0.06) also fell.

At the national average a 15-gallon tank cost $41.69 to fill from empty and a 26-gallon truck tank $72.25; think mid-size sedan and full-size pickup. That was $0.25 less than the week before on the smaller tank and $0.44 on the larger one. Of the ten states at the extremes, 6 were shown at a regional average, because EIA publishes a weekly state figure for only 9 states and the rest take the average of their PADD region. Every figure here was from EIA's weekly retail gasoline series for that week.