Gas Pain, Week of March 23, 2026

Gas got noticeably more expensive. The U.S. average for regular jumped 24¢ in a week to $3.96 a gallon for the week of March 23, 2026. Over the past 12 weeks it was up $1.17, from $2.80 to $3.96.

California was the most expensive state at $5.65, $1.69 above the national figure, with Washington at $5.16 and Alaska at $4.80 (West Coast excl. California regional average) next. At the other end Minnesota was cheapest at $3.43, $0.53 below national, followed by Texas at $3.60 and New Mexico at $3.60 (Gulf Coast regional average). The gap between the priciest and cheapest state was $2.22 a gallon, which on a 15-gallon tank was $33.30 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 $0.37 to $5.16; Ohio (+$0.32) and Illinois (+$0.29) also rose. No state fell more than half a cent.

At the national average a 15-gallon tank cost $59.41 to fill from empty and a 26-gallon truck tank $102.99; think mid-size sedan and full-size pickup. That was $3.61 more than the week before on the smaller tank and $6.27 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.