Average gas prices by state in 2023

Average gas prices by state in 2023

06.09.2023

Pump it up: Empower proprietary data shows that consumers are spending slightly less on gas than the same time last year.*

Month

Overall spend

Spend per transaction

May 2022

$253

$56

May 2023

$213

$51

Cost of inflation

The thing about inflation is this: Not all industries have been impacted the same. Overall, consumer inflation was up 4% as of May 2023.1

The price of medical care commodities, for instance, was up by 4.4% year-over-year while the cost of food has increased by 6.7%.Gasoline, overall, is down by 20.4% compared to last year.1

U.S. gas prices

Indeed, costs have gone down across the States. To draw a comparison, we took a look at gas prices using data from AAA.2

In June 2023, the national average prices are:

  • Regular unleaded: $3.583
  • Mid-grade: $4.004
  • Premium: $4.331
  • Diesel: $3.918
  • E85: $2.964

National average prices from June 2022 were:

  • Regular unleaded: $4.970
  • Mid-grade: $5.332
  • Premium: $5.624
  • Diesel: $5.740
  • E85: $4.305

So how does your state compare to the rest of the nation? Check out the full list below (as of June 2023).

Average gas prices by state

State 

Regular 

Mid-Grade 

Premium 

Diesel 

Alaska $4.008 $4.145 $4.366 $4.141
Alabama $3.113 $3.498 $3.875 $3.676
Arkansas $3.121 $3.507 $3.873 $3.671
Arizona $4.335 $4.672 $4.944 $4.324
California $4.891 $5.094 $5.247 $5.068
Colorado $3.481 $3.847 $4.136 $3.932
Connecticut $3.635 $4.104 $4.491 $4.135
District of Columbia $3.667 $4.219 $4.621 $4.320
Delaware $3.374 $3.843 $4.099 $3.673
Florida $3.390 $3.784 $4.103 $3.782
Georgia $3.276 $3.677 $4.059 $3.809
Hawaii $4.745 $4.967 $5.223 $5.781
Iowa $3.383 $3.623 $4.122 $3.661
Idaho $3.963 $4.159 $4.413 $3.996
Illinois $3.962 $4.444 $4.873 $3.967
Indiana $3.657 $4.103 $4.545 $4.018
Kansas $3.257 $3.555 $3.855 $3.637
Kentucky $3.329 $3.781 $4.176 $3.804
Louisiana $3.096 $3.489 $3.836 $3.520
Massachusetts $3.531 $4.044 $4.383 $4.261
Maryland $3.428 $3.943 $4.214 $3.791
Maine $3.571 $3.970 $4.364 $4.229
Michigan $3.644 $4.080 $4.555 $3.972
Minnesota $3.489 $3.778 $4.177 $3.820
Missouri $3.201 $3.508 $3.835 $3.567
Mississippi $2.972 $3.344 $3.702 $3.532
Montana $3.670 $3.974 $4.232 $4.152
North Carolina $3.341 $3.722 $4.069 $3.739
North Dakota $3.461 $3.735 $4.048 $3.911
Nebraska $3.347 $3.545 $3.986 $3.645
New Hampshire $3.483 $3.900 $4.304 $4.158
New Jersey $3.495 $4.016 $4.270 $3.722
New Mexico $3.452 $3.791 $4.072 $4.058
Nevada $4.269 $4.512 $4.747 $4.275
New York $3.697 $4.143 $4.498 $4.511
Ohio $3.613 $4.019 $4.453 $3.894
Oklahoma $3.213 $3.541 $3.796 $3.479
Oregon $4.402 $4.553 $4.773 $4.412
Pennsylvania $3.657 $4.033 $4.305 $4.362
Rhode Island $3.504 $4.109 $4.444 $4.255
South Carolina $3.185 $3.576 $3.940 $3.640
South Dakota $3.466 $3.628 $4.105 $3.754
Tennessee $3.159 $3.551 $3.902 $3.633
Texas $3.148 $3.538 $3.870 $3.354
Utah $4.147 $4.378 $4.577 $3.976
Virginia $3.304 $3.710 $4.038 $3.769
Vermont $3.588 $4.013 $4.442 $3.952
Washington $4.771 $4.974 $5.170 $4.938
Wisconsin $3.564 $3.937 $4.415 $3.673
West Virginia $3.414 $3.726 $4.018 $3.917
Wyoming $3.548 $3.802 $4.071 $4.163

Highest and lowest spend by state

That’s just the cost per gallon. Looking at Empower Personal DashboardTM users, we examined how much people are spending every time they fuel up. Costs vary widely by state.*

Here are the 10 states with the highest and lowest expenditures during each visit to a gas station in May 2023.

State

Spend per transaction

California

$64.14

New York $63.97
Alaska $61.30

Connecticut

$58.13

Massachusetts $56.79
New Mexico $39.20
Montana $38.95
Missouri $38.95
Iowa $37.17

Wisconsin

$35.72

 

“There are many factors that can go into gas prices,” says Daniel Goldfarb, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional. “In states with lower gas prices, it’s possible that there is less demand or it’s easier to transport the gas in those states.”

He says that in places where gas is the most expensive, it’s a combination of various factors.

“In California, there is a large population with high demand, and the fuel taxes in that state are also set higher than other states,” he says. “Consumers are often unaware of how high the percentage is that they pay for taxes in each gallon that they purchase at the fuel pump. Alaska is another state with increased delivery costs; therefore, the state has higher gas prices to offset these additional costs.”

1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2023.

2 AAA Gas Prices, June 2023.

 

*Anonymized user data from the Empower Personal Dashboard™ as of May 2023.

 

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The Currency editors

Staff contributors

The CurrencyTM, a publication from Empower, covers the latest financial news and views shaping how we live, work, and play. We keep you current on ways to plan, save, and invest for life.

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