Gas Pain, Week of January 26, 2026

Gas got noticeably more expensive. The U.S. average for regular jumped 5¢ in a week to $2.85 a gallon for the week of January 26, 2026. Over the past 12 weeks it was down $0.20, from $3.06 to $2.85.

California was the most expensive state at $4.04, $1.19 above the national figure, with Washington at $3.69 and Alaska at $3.31 (West Coast excl. California regional average) next. At the other end Texas was cheapest at $2.44, $0.41 below national, followed by New Mexico at $2.46 (Gulf Coast regional average) and Mississippi at $2.46 (Gulf Coast regional average). The gap between the priciest and cheapest state was $1.60 a gallon, which on a 15-gallon tank was $23.95 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 $0.20 to $2.88; Colorado (+$0.09) and Georgia (+$0.09) also rose. Delaware fell the most, down $0.02 to $2.88; Maryland (−$0.02) and New Jersey (−$0.02) also fell.

At the national average a 15-gallon tank cost $42.80 to fill from empty and a 26-gallon truck tank $74.18; think mid-size sedan and full-size pickup. That was $0.71 more than the week before on the smaller tank and $1.22 on the larger one. Of the ten states at the extremes, 7 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.