Gas Pain, Week of May 11, 2026

Gas got noticeably more expensive. The U.S. average for regular jumped 5¢ in a week to $4.50 a gallon for the week of May 11, 2026. Over the past 12 weeks it was up $1.56, from $2.94 to $4.50.

California was the most expensive state at $5.97, $1.47 above the national figure, with Washington at $5.59 and Alaska at $5.19 (West Coast excl. California regional average) next. At the other end Texas was cheapest at $3.94, $0.56 below national, followed by New Mexico at $3.95 (Gulf Coast regional average) and Mississippi at $3.95 (Gulf Coast regional average). The gap between the priciest and cheapest state was $2.03 a gallon, which on a 15-gallon tank was $30.42 for the same fill. The ranking counts all 50 states, with the regional average standing in wherever EIA publishes no state figure.

Minnesota climbed the most, up $0.13 to $4.21; New York (+$0.12) and Delaware (+$0.11) also rose. Ohio fell the most, down $0.12 to $4.66; Colorado (−$0.09) also fell.

At the national average a 15-gallon tank cost $67.50 to fill from empty and a 26-gallon truck tank $117.00; think mid-size sedan and full-size pickup. That was $0.72 more than the week before on the smaller tank and $1.25 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.