The national average price for a gallon of regular gas is $3.144 on Tuesday. Although technically, this is a slight increase from Sunday and Monday, when gas was $3.14 per gallon, the rise is negligible, and prices have remained steady the last few days.
Gas prices on Tuesday are less expensive than a week ago, when the national average cost for regular gas was $3.15 per gallon, according to AAA. Fuel costs have been trending downward recently and have, thus far, avoided the customary summer rise in the energy sector. Tuesday’s price was also less expensive than a month ago, when the average gallon of regular gas cost was $3.218. It is also less costly when gas prices were significantly higher than last year, with regular gas costing an average price of $3.501 per gallon.
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Gas prices this summer season have been very affordable compared to recent years. Fuel prices in July are at their cheapest average since 2020, when the average cost for a gallon of regular gas was $2.272, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In July 2024, the average price was $3.60 per gallon. In 2023, fuel costs were higher at $3.712 per gallon. Gas prices surged in July 2022, costing $4.668 per gallon, the second most expensive monthly average in the country’s history. In July 2021, the average cost for gas was $3.23.
Arguably, the most surprising aspect of the current gas prices’ relatively low cost was the lack of a sharp increase at the pumps over the summer. This is particularly rather shocking given the geopolitical tension in the Middle East between Iran and Israel in June and July. Typically, conflicts in the Middle East, or even speculation of war, cause an increase in U.S. gas prices. However, while gas prices slightly rose, there wasn’t the kind of price surge that occurred in the past.
Many gas price analyses have focused on the $3 per gallon price point as a barometer of fuel cost affordability in the country. As gas prices have trended downwards in recent months, the number of states averaging less than $3 per gallon has increased. However, that has fluctuated over the last three weeks. On June 27, 17 states had average prices under $3. By Monday, June 30, that total rose to 21 states. In early July, it dropped to 20 states. A week ago, it rose back to 22 states. Today, the total is back to 21 states.
In the U.S., different regions have different gas prices, sometimes substantially. The section of the country with the least expensive fuel costs is located along the Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, the states with the highest gas prices in the country are located on the West Coast.
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As has been the case for 2025, Mississippi remains the state with the cheapest gas prices in the country, with an average of $2.712 per gallon. Oklahoma is next at $2.756, followed by Texas at $2.757. Alabama has the country’s third-lowest gas prices, with an average of $2.772. Louisiana is next, with a statewide average of $2.778, followed by Arkansas with an average price of $2.781.
Conversely, California remains the state with the most expensive average fuel costs in the country, at $4.488 per gallon, which has dropped significantly in recent weeks. California’s statewide average for fuel costs is now less than two cents higher than Hawaii, which is the state with the next highest gas price, at $4.472. Washington state has the third-highest average gas price in the country at $4.394. Next is Oregon at $3.988 and then Alaska, with a statewide average price of $3.759.