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%.1 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.”
