The gas prices national average for regular gasoline reached $4.4744 a gallon on Sept. 23, 2026, according to AAA, a 16-cent jump in a week driven largely by crude oil costs tied to geopolitical conflict.
AAA and EIA Data Show a Steep Climb
AAA’s daily fuel survey put the national average at $4.4744 a gallon as of Sept. 23, up 16 cents from a week earlier and 37 cents from a month earlier. The price is $1.29 higher than the same date last year, AAA said.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly gasoline survey, released Sept. 22 and covering data through Sept. 21, found a nearly identical U.S. regular retail average of $4.478 a gallon, according to the EIA. The roughly half-cent gap between the two figures falls within normal variance between the two surveys, which use different sampling methods and collection windows.
The current run-up follows a volatile stretch for pump prices in 2026. Prices spiked toward $4 a gallon earlier in the year during a conflict involving Iran before partially retreating, then resumed climbing through the summer and into fall, according to AAA.
Crude Oil and Global Conflicts Push Prices Higher
AAA and the EIA both attribute the latest increase primarily to elevated crude oil prices, with West Texas Intermediate crude trading around $95 a barrel amid ongoing tensions tied to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and to fighting in the Middle East, according to AAA.
“Tensions are running high, and until conditions improve, there is little reason to think that the crude oil market will settle down,” said Matthew Conde, AAA Idaho’s public affairs director, in comments reported by the Clearwater Tribune.
Gasoline is refined from crude oil, so the price of crude sets a floor under what drivers pay at the pump before refining, distribution and retail markups are added on top. When crude trades near $95 a barrel, as it has through September, refiners are paying substantially more for their raw material than they were when prices were lower earlier in the year, and that cost moves through the supply chain to the pump within days to a few weeks, depending on regional inventory levels and how far a given station sits from a refinery.
Rising fuel costs are landing on households already managing higher borrowing costs
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate to a range of 3.75% to 4% in mid-September 2026, adding to a broader affordability squeeze that now includes gasoline as one of the most visible daily expenses for American drivers. Unlike a mortgage or credit card rate, which adjusts on a monthly or longer cycle, gasoline prices are visible to drivers every time they pass a station, making a 16-cent weekly jump a far more immediate and frequently repeated reminder of inflationary pressure than other cost increases moving through the economy at the same time.
What the Price Jump Costs the Average Driver
The federal government’s most commonly cited estimate, from the U.S. Department of
Transportation, puts average annual mileage for American drivers at around 13,500 miles. Using a standard estimate of 25 miles per gallon for an average vehicle, that works out to roughly 540 gallons of gasoline consumed per year (13,500 miles divided by 25 miles per gallon).
Applying AAA’s reported year-over-year increase of $1.29 a gallon to that estimated 540-gallon annual usage produces an added fuel cost of roughly $697 over the past 12 months for an average driver, before accounting for differences in vehicle type, commute length or driving habits. This figure is illustrative arithmetic applied to AAA’s real price data, not a number reported directly by AAA or the EIA, and actual costs vary widely by household, vehicle and location.
For a household with two drivers logging similar mileage, that estimate would roughly double, underscoring how a single-dollar swing at the pump compounds across a family’s annual budget alongside other rising costs.
The same arithmetic applied to just the past month’s 37-cent increase, rather than the full yearover-year change, works out to roughly $200 in added annual cost if that monthly pace held steady, though gas prices rarely move in a straight line for a full year. Applied instead to a single fill-up of a 15-gallon tank, the $1.29 year-over-year increase adds about $19 to the cost of filling an empty tank compared with a year ago, a smaller but more immediately felt number for drivers who fill up weekly or every other week.
What Happens Next
AAA and the EIA update their gasoline price figures weekly, and both agencies say the trajectory of pump prices will continue to hinge on how the geopolitical situations affecting crude oil supply develop. The EIA’s next weekly gasoline data release is scheduled for Sept. 29, 2026. Until crude oil markets stabilize, AAA has indicated drivers should expect prices to remain elevated or continue climbing, particularly if tensions tied to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East persist.
Consumers can track daily average price movements through AAA’s fuel price tracker and the EIA’s weekly gasoline and diesel report.
