Gas Pain, Week of January 19, 2026

The U.S. average for regular gasoline edged up 3¢ to $2.81 a gallon for the week of January 19, 2026. Over the past 12 weeks it was down $0.21, from $3.02 to $2.81.

California was the most expensive state at $3.98, $1.17 above the national figure, with Washington at $3.66 and Alaska at $3.29 (West Coast excl. California regional average) next. At the other end Texas was cheapest at $2.38, $0.43 below national, followed by Colorado at $2.38 and New Mexico at $2.40 (Gulf Coast regional average). The gap between the priciest and cheapest state was $1.60 a gallon, which on a 15-gallon tank was $23.98 for the same fill. The ranking counts all 50 states, with the regional average standing in wherever EIA publishes no state figure.

Colorado climbed the most, up $0.12 to $2.38; Florida (+$0.10) and Idaho (+$0.07) also rose. Connecticut fell the most, down $0.03 to $2.79; Maine (−$0.03) and New Hampshire (−$0.03) also fell.

At the national average a 15-gallon tank cost $42.09 to fill from empty and a 26-gallon truck tank $72.96; think mid-size sedan and full-size pickup. That was $0.41 more than the week before on the smaller tank and $0.70 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.