Gas Pain, Week of September 21, 2026

Gas got noticeably more expensive. The U.S. average for regular jumped 16¢ in a week to $4.48 a gallon for the week of September 21, 2026. Over the past 12 weeks it was up $0.70, from $3.78 to $4.48.

California was the most expensive state at $6.00, $1.53 above the national figure, with Washington at $5.52 and Alaska at $5.11 (West Coast excl. California regional average) next. At the other end Texas was cheapest at $3.93, $0.55 below national, followed by New Mexico at $3.97 (Gulf Coast regional average) and Mississippi at $3.97 (Gulf Coast regional average). The gap between the priciest and cheapest state was $2.07 a gallon, which on a 15-gallon tank was $31.11 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 $0.33 to $4.48; Illinois (+$0.29) and Indiana (+$0.29) also rose. No state fell more than half a cent.

At the national average a 15-gallon tank cost $67.17 to fill from empty and a 26-gallon truck tank $116.43; think mid-size sedan and full-size pickup. That was $2.38 more than the week before on the smaller tank and $4.13 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.