As President Donald Trump spoke about affordability issues in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas continued its slow increase, inching back toward the $ 3-per-gallon mark. On Wednesday, the national average cost of regular gas is $2.975 per gallon, nearly 4% higher than a month ago.
After hitting a Trump 2.0-era low of $2.79 per gallon on Jan. 12, gas prices began to rise slowly. Toward the end of January, the national average for regular gas rose to $2.88 per gallon before dropping to $2.875 to start February. With less than a week remaining in the month, fuel costs have increased by a dime since the beginning of February and by over 18 cents since reaching $2.79 per gallon. The increase in the national average for a gallon of regular gas comes after Trump touted the decrease in gas prices in his address on Tuesday night.
Overall, gas prices are down compared to a year ago, according to AAA, when a gallon of regular gas was $3.14. However, as mentioned above, there’s been a steady increase in the last 44 days, and gas prices are not headed in the right direction. Yet, even with this increase, the national average price for regular gas is still at its lowest level since May 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Fuel costs have remained considerably lower than when former President Joe Biden was in office.
After years of expensive gas prices during Biden’s term, Americans have experienced relief at the pumps during the second term of President Donald Trump. While Biden was in office, the national average for gas prices regularly exceeded $3 per gallon. Moreover, during his four years in office, the average cost for a gallon of regular gas was $3.555, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This includes the highest yearly average for a gallon of regular gasoline in U.S. history, at $4.059 in 2022, and the highest monthly average in history, at $5.032 per gallon in June 2022.
Currently, 38 states have average gas prices under $3 per gallon. In the second week of January, 43 states fell below that price point. Nevertheless, fuel prices vary by region, with the West Coast typically having the highest gas prices in the nation. For the last two years, the lowest gas prices were usually found in states along the Gulf Coast or in adjacent states, such as Oklahoma. That has changed in recent months.
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California is once again the state with the highest gas prices in the country, a title it has held for most of the last two years. In 2026, however, gas prices dropped in the Golden State, beginning in February, when the statewide average cost of a gallon of regular gas fell to $4.355. Today, a gallon of regular gas in California costs $4.634. Hawaii, which was the state with the most expensive gas prices in the nation at the beginning of February, is now second, with a cost of $4.406 per gallon. Washington state is next with an average price of $4.359 per gallon, followed by Oregon at $3.923 and Nevada at $3.704.
Oklahoma has the lowest gas prices in the country, with an average price of $2.405 per gallon. This is an increase from last week’s price of $2.291. Mississippi is the second-least-expensive state for gas prices, at $2.523 per gallon. Kansas is next at $2.534, followed by Wisconsin at $2.536 (a new entry into the top 5 least expensive states for gas), and Arkansas, at $2.548.