Gas Pain, Week of August 17, 2026

The U.S. average for regular gasoline edged up 4¢ to $4.05 a gallon for the week of August 17, 2026. Over the past 12 weeks it was down $0.26, from $4.30 to $4.05.

California was the most expensive state at $5.40, $1.35 above the national figure, with Washington at $5.12 and Alaska at $4.71 (West Coast excl. California regional average) next. At the other end Texas was cheapest at $3.62, $0.43 below national, followed by New Mexico at $3.62 (Gulf Coast regional average) and Mississippi at $3.62 (Gulf Coast regional average). The gap between the priciest and cheapest state was $1.78 a gallon, which on a 15-gallon tank was $26.67 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 $0.28 to $4.18; Colorado (+$0.21) and Idaho (+$0.16) also rose. California fell the most, down $0.03 to $5.40; Connecticut (−$0.03) and Maine (−$0.03) also fell.

At the national average a 15-gallon tank cost $60.74 to fill from empty and a 26-gallon truck tank $105.27; think mid-size sedan and full-size pickup. That was $0.65 more than the week before on the smaller tank and $1.12 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.