Why Are Gas Prices Going Up (and Why So High)?
Prices as of September 22, 2026 · Updated September 22, 2026
The short answer
Less oil is getting through the Strait of Hormuz (reducing global oil supply and refining capacity), so crude costs more, and refiners' costs for turning oil into gasoline are far above normal.
- Regular averages $4.47 a gallon as of September 22, 2026, 40.5% higher than the $3.18 of a year ago (AAA).
- Crude oil is about 45% of every gallon of gasoline.
- The gasoline refining margin (the NY Harbor crack spread) is $1.00 a gallon as of September 11, 2026, 2.5× its 2015–2019 average of $0.40.
- Taxes and state fuel rules decide how far your state sits from that average.
Ask Energy Factbook
Have a question about gas prices?
We read every one. Questions we can answer from the data become FAQ entries on this page. Nothing you send is published.
Gas prices today (September 22, 2026)
The AAA national average for regular is $4.47 per gallon. It fell 0.4¢ from yesterday, rose 14.6¢ over the past week, and rose 37.3¢ over the past month, per AAA's own comparisons, fetched this morning.
The largest state moves since September 21, 2026: UT +15.7¢, ID +10.7¢, WY +6.2¢, CO +5.8¢, NV +5.8¢. 18 states rose and 12 fell by a penny or more. State-level prices and why they differ are on the gas prices hub, whose full state table updates weekly.
WTI crude settled at $107.02 on September 15, 2026 and rose $14.47 a barrel since September 3, 2026 (EIA daily spot, published with a lag of several days). For seasonal footing, this same week of the year averaged between $2.17 and $3.84 across 2020–2025 in EIA's weekly survey.
| Week of | Regular ($/gal) | Change | Diesel ($/gal) |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 21, 2026 | $4.48 | +15.9¢ | $6.53 |
| September 14, 2026 | $4.32 | +16.2¢ | $6.28 |
| September 7, 2026 | $4.16 | +8.6¢ | $5.97 |
| August 31, 2026 | $4.07 | −1.4¢ | $5.60 |
| August 24, 2026 | $4.08 | +3.6¢ | $5.65 |
Weekly rows: EIA weekly U.S. average, regular all formulations, surveyed each Monday. Today's figure: AAA national average, fetched once each morning (about 11 a.m. Eastern). Crude: EIA daily WTI spot.
Pump price and crude oil since 2020
The pump price tracks the crude in a gallon. When the gray crude line moves, the blue pump line follows within a few weeks.
| Year | Average | Low | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $2.17 | $1.77 | $2.58 |
| 2021 | $3.01 | $2.25 | $3.41 |
| 2022 | $3.95 | $3.09 | $5.01 |
| 2023 | $3.52 | $3.05 | $3.88 |
| 2024 | $3.30 | $3.01 | $3.67 |
| 2025 | $3.10 | $2.81 | $3.24 |
| 2026 (through September 21, 2026) | $3.81 | $2.78 | $4.50 |
Pump price: weekly U.S. regular all-formulations retail price, EIA; the latest survey week (September 21, 2026) is $4.48. Crude: EIA monthly WTI spot average divided by 42 gallons per barrel, through August 2026. 2026 figures cover the year so far.
What you are actually paying for
A gallon of gasoline is three costs stacked on top of each other. Only one of them moves much from week to week.
| Component | Share of the pump price | $/gallon | What sets it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crude oil | 45% | $2.00 | A single world market price. Every state pays roughly the same. |
| Refining, distribution & marketing | 43% | $1.95 | Refinery capacity and outages, the fuel blend a region requires, pipelines, trucking, and station margins. |
| Taxes | 12% | $0.52 | Federal 18.4¢/gal plus state taxes and fees, which vary widely. |
Shares of the $4.47 national average as of September 22, 2026. Crude: EIA's WTI spot average for August 2026 divided by 42 gallons per barrel. Taxes: the federal 18.4¢ plus a simple average of state taxes of 33.6¢ (Tax Foundation, 2026). The remainder is refining, distribution and marketing, which we cannot split from public data. For comparison, EIA's own breakdown for May 2026 (retail price $4.48 that month) put crude at 52%, refining at 22%, distribution and marketing at 15%, and taxes at 12%.
Why gas prices went up this year: crude oil
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, averaged $60/barrel in January 2026 and $102/barrel in May 2026, a swing of about 70%. It was $84 in August 2026. Because crude is nearly half the pump price, a move of that size shows up at the station within a few weeks.
EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook attributes the increase to supply disruption rather than demand. In its August 2026 edition, EIA reported that crude oil and petroleum liquids moving through the Strait of Hormuz fell to 4.9 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2026, down from an average of 21.6 million b/d in the fourth quarter of 2025, and that production shut-ins averaged 5.5 million b/d in July.
Why your state is different
Why gasoline is expensive in California.
Crude trades on a world market, so it is not why one state costs more than another. The spread comes from taxes, fuel-blend requirements, and how far fuel has to travel from a refinery. This week California averages $6.19 against $3.96 in Texas, a gap of $2.22 a gallon on the same barrel of oil.
See all 50 states ranked, each with its price broken into crude, taxes, and everything else. State averages are from AAA as of September 22, 2026.
Refining conditions can move product prices independently of crude. The weekly NY Harbor crack-spread section shows the gasoline and diesel product-price proxies from EIA's three aligned weekly series, and the diesel explainer covers why diesel has pulled so far ahead of gasoline this year.
Will gas prices go down?
EIA projects they will. Its Short-Term Energy Outlook, as of September 22, 2026, has the U.S. average falling from $3.84/gallon in 2026 to $3.35/gallon in 2027, with Brent crude easing from $91 to $74 a barrel as shut-in production is restored and inventories rebuild.
This is EIA's projection, not ours, and EIA reissues it every month; we pull the current edition from EIA's API on each weekly refresh.
Frequently asked questions
Why did gas prices go up today?
As of September 22, 2026, the AAA national average for regular fell 0.4¢ from yesterday, to $4.47 per gallon; over the past week it rose 14.6¢. The larger move is the year: $1.29 higher than the $3.18 of a year ago, which the sections above trace to crude oil.
Why is gas so much more expensive in California than in Texas?
State taxes, fuel-blend rules, and refinery and pipeline access, not different crude prices. Crude trades on a world market, so every state pays about the same for it. California averages $6.19 against $3.96 in Texas, a spread of $2.22. Our gas-prices hub decomposes every state's price into crude, taxes, and everything else.
Do gas prices fall as fast as they rise?
Nearly. From 2020 through August 2026, in the 21 months when the crude in a gallon rose by 10 cents or more, the pump price captured 100% of that increase within the same month. In the 20 months when crude fell by 10 cents or more, the pump price gave back 96% of the decrease. Both figures compare EIA's monthly WTI crude, converted to dollars per gallon, with the monthly average of EIA's weekly pump price. The gap is real but small.
How much of the price of gas is taxes?
About 12% of the national average right now: the federal 18.4¢ a gallon plus a simple average of state taxes of 33.6¢ (Tax Foundation, 2026), or $0.52 of a $4.47 gallon. State rates vary by tens of cents, which is the main reason two neighboring states can differ on the same crude.
Is this the highest gas has ever been?
No. Regular averaged $4.48 the week of September 21, 2026 (EIA). The record is $5.01, the week of June 13, 2022, so this week is 53 cents below it. Adjusted for inflation (CPI-U, July 2026 dollars), the record belongs to June 30, 2008: $4.09 then is $6.25 today, and the $5.01 of June 13, 2022 is $5.64. Diesel is a different story: $6.53 the week of September 21, 2026 is a record, above the previous high of $5.81 the week of June 20, 2022. The diesel page traces it to refining.
Why isn't the Keystone Pipeline helping keep gas prices down?
Three reasons. First, Keystone carries crude oil, not gasoline or diesel. It delivers Canadian crude to Midwest and Gulf Coast refineries, and the fuel still has to be refined. Refiners' gasoline margin (the NY Harbor crack spread) is $1.00 a gallon, 2.5× its 2015–2019 average of $0.40, and U.S. refineries are running near capacity. That margin, not the cost of moving crude, is where this year's extra cost sits. Second, the existing Keystone system is already running (about 594,000 barrels a day in late 2025, per operator South Bow); the never-built Keystone XL extension was terminated in June 2021, and as of September 2026 a partial revival is at the planning stage with a decision targeted for mid-2027. Third, pipelines move crude; they do not price it. Crude trades on a world market, Canada already supplies about 3.9 million barrels a day to U.S. refiners, and a Department of Energy study required by the 2021 infrastructure law found the pump-price effect of Keystone XL "inconclusive."
Related
Sources: EIA Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update (weekly retail prices, price components), EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook (crude and gasoline projections), EIA WTI Cushing spot price, AAA (national and state averages), and the Tax Foundation (state fuel taxes). See methodology.