Gas prices eased a little heading into the final week of October, but drivers are still paying far more at the pump than they did a year ago. AAA’s national average for a gallon of regular stands at $4.27, down 6 cents in a week, according to the motor club’s latest weekly report.
A year earlier, the same gallon cost about $3.07. That gap puts this fall in territory AAA has never recorded, with the motor club noting that 2026 is the first year the national average has stayed above $4 in October.
Winter-blend gasoline trims prices, but crude hovers near $100
In its Oct. 22 update, AAA said the weekly drop was “fueled by the transition to winter-blend gasoline,” the cheaper formula stations can sell once summer fuel rules end. The national average was about $4.33 a week earlier and about $4.48 a month earlier.
Drivers who have watched prices climb all year can find practical ideas in this site’s look at what drivers can do when gas tops $4 a gallon, and anyone mapping out a long holiday drive may want to skim these travel blunders that turn a vacation into a stress fest before loading the car.
Oil is the reason the relief is so modest. AAA reported that West Texas Intermediate crude fell 67 cents to settle at $97.15 a barrel in midweek trading, with markets unsettled by instability in the Strait of Hormuz. Regional supply problems have pushed prices around before, as seen when a Chicago-area refinery outage lifted Midwest prices.
Crude supplies are also running thin. According to the federal figures AAA cited, U.S. commercial crude inventories fell by 3.1 million barrels to 412.5 million, about 3% below the five-year average for this time of year.
California tops $6 while North Carolina sits at $3.55
The spread between states remains wide. AAA’s list of the priciest markets is led by California at $6.08 a gallon, followed by Hawaii at $5.64, Washington at $5.34, Nevada at $5.33 and Oregon at $4.90. Alaska ($4.88), Idaho ($4.74), Utah ($4.72), Illinois ($4.66) and Michigan ($4.60) round out the top 10.
At the other end, North Carolina has the cheapest gas in the country at $3.55, ahead of Georgia at $3.70, Texas at $3.76, Tennessee at $3.82 and Louisiana at $3.83. South Carolina ($3.84), Alabama ($3.86), Mississippi ($3.86), Indiana ($3.87) and Arkansas ($3.88) complete AAA’s 10 least expensive markets. This site took a closer look at the states paying the least for gas earlier this month.
Based on those state averages, filling a 15-gallon tank costs roughly $38 more in California than in North Carolina.
Electric-vehicle drivers have a steadier picture. AAA puts the national average for public charging at 41 cents per kilowatt-hour, unchanged from the week before. Hawaii is the most expensive state to charge at 54 cents, followed by West Virginia at 52 cents, while Kansas is the cheapest at 31 cents, a figure covered in the site’s rundown of EV charging costs.
A record-setting autumn at the pump
Earlier in the month, AAA reported a national average of $4.36 and said prices were the highest they had ever been for that time of year. At that point, the year-ago average was about $3.12. The motor club’s October report archive shows the weekly average slipping from there, one small step at a time.
Federal numbers tell the same story. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s October short-term outlook said regular gasoline averaged $4.35 a gallon in September and diesel averaged $6.29. EIA forecast an average of $3.91 a gallon for gasoline across all of 2026, easing to $3.56 in 2027, and expected diesel to stay above $6 a gallon in October before falling to about $4.50 in 2027.
The same EIA release said Brent crude averaged $114 a barrel in September, $23 higher than in August, and forecast Brent at $105 a barrel for the last three months of 2026 before it eases to an average of $84 in 2027.
Demand has not slowed much despite the high prices. AAA’s report cited EIA data showing gasoline demand rising from 8.40 million to 8.98 million barrels a day, while total gasoline stocks fell from 208.3 million to 205.3 million barrels and refinery output of gasoline rose from 9.23 million to 9.75 million barrels a day.
What higher fuel costs mean beyond the gas tank
The same oil market is reaching into home budgets. EIA’s winter fuels outlook expects heating oil to average $5.26 a gallon this winter, 34% more than last year, which matters most in the Northeast, where most oil-heated homes are found.
For travelers looking to leave the car at home for a trip, these budget-friendly railway tours across America offer one alternative. Those who do drive this season can check which cities see the most car accidents before heading into heavy holiday traffic.
AAA updates its national and state averages daily, so the $4.27 figure will keep moving as crude prices and winter-blend supplies shift through November and into the Thanksgiving travel rush.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Infrogmation – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons
