Gas Pain, Week of October 5, 2026

Relief at the pump this week. The U.S. average for regular fell 11¢ to $4.35 a gallon for the week of October 5, 2026, the kind of drop that shows on the first fill of the week. Over the past 12 weeks it was up $0.35, from $4.00 to $4.35.

California was the most expensive state at $6.23, $1.87 above the national figure, with Washington at $5.42 and Alaska at $5.12 (West Coast excl. California regional average) next. At the other end Ohio was cheapest at $3.83, $0.52 below national, followed by Texas at $3.87 and New Mexico at $3.91 (Gulf Coast regional average). The gap between the priciest and cheapest state was $2.40 a gallon, which on a 15-gallon tank was $35.97 for the same fill. The ranking counts all 50 states, with the regional average standing in wherever EIA publishes no state figure.

California climbed the most, up $0.04 to $6.23; Texas (+$0.03) also rose. Ohio fell the most, down $0.43 to $3.83; Florida (−$0.31) and Georgia (−$0.24) also fell.

At the national average a 15-gallon tank cost $65.31 to fill from empty and a 26-gallon truck tank $113.20; think mid-size sedan and full-size pickup. That was $1.66 less than the week before on the smaller tank and $2.89 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.