Gas Pain, Week of February 16, 2026

The U.S. average for regular gasoline edged up 2¢ to $2.92 a gallon for the week of February 16, 2026. Over the past 12 weeks it was down $0.06, from $2.98 to $2.92.

California was the most expensive state at $4.42, $1.49 above the national figure, with Washington at $4.01 and Alaska at $3.61 (West Coast excl. California regional average) next. At the other end Texas was cheapest at $2.46, $0.46 below national, followed by New Mexico at $2.48 (Gulf Coast regional average) and Mississippi at $2.48 (Gulf Coast regional average). The gap between the priciest and cheapest state was $1.96 a gallon, which on a 15-gallon tank was $29.35 for the same fill. The ranking counts all 50 states, with the regional average standing in wherever EIA publishes no state figure.

Washington climbed the most, up $0.15 to $4.01; Alaska (+$0.11) and Arizona (+$0.11) also rose. Minnesota fell the most, down $0.03 to $2.68; Ohio (−$0.02) and Texas (−$0.01) also fell.

At the national average a 15-gallon tank cost $43.86 to fill from empty and a 26-gallon truck tank $76.02; think mid-size sedan and full-size pickup. That was $0.33 more than the week before on the smaller tank and $0.57 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.