Gas Pain, Week of October 19, 2026

Relief at the pump this week. The U.S. average for regular fell 7¢ to $4.28 a gallon for the week of October 19, 2026, the kind of drop that shows on the first fill of the week. Over the past 12 weeks it was up $0.19, from $4.10 to $4.28.

California was the most expensive state at $6.03, $1.75 above the national figure, with Washington at $5.33 and Alaska at $5.01 (West Coast excl. California regional average) next. At the other end Texas was cheapest at $3.70, $0.58 below national, followed by New Mexico at $3.78 (Gulf Coast regional average) and Mississippi at $3.78 (Gulf Coast regional average). The gap between the priciest and cheapest state was $2.33 a gallon, which on a 15-gallon tank was $34.90 for the same fill. The ranking counts all 50 states, with the regional average standing in wherever EIA publishes no state figure.

Colorado climbed the most, up $0.25 to $4.27; Ohio (+$0.22) and Idaho (+$0.05) also rose. California fell the most, down $0.20 to $6.03; Texas (−$0.17) and Alabama (−$0.13) also fell.

At the national average a 15-gallon tank cost $64.26 to fill from empty and a 26-gallon truck tank $111.38; think mid-size sedan and full-size pickup. That was $1.05 less than the week before on the smaller tank and $1.82 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.