Alaska Gas Prices This Week

In the EIA’s July 2026 (revised August 2026) table of motor fuel taxes, Alaska’s state taxes and fees on gasoline total 9.0¢ a gallon, the lowest of the 50 states and D.C. The 51-jurisdiction average is 33.8¢, and the federal tax adds 18.4¢ everywhere. Alaska’s excise tax is 8¢ a gallon, plus a motor fuel surcharge of just under 1¢. Alaska collects no state sales tax on fuel.

Low taxes have not made Alaska cheap. The state has its own refineries: the EIA lists a combined 177,000 barrels a day of capacity at Kenai, North Pole, and Valdez, plus two small plants at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope. But its market is small and far from the rest of the country, and the EIA’s annual average for Alaska has been above the U.S. average in every year since 1970. The gap averaged 5.9¢ a gallon in the 1970s, 16.0¢ in the 1990s, and 22.6¢ in the 2000s. Alaska ranked 50th or 51st of the 50 states and D.C. in 35 of those 55 years. Its cheapest ranking was 20th, in 1991, when it was 0.8¢ above the national average.

The gap was 6.7¢ in 2007, 45.6¢ in 2008, 64.4¢ in 2010, and an average of $1.38 from 2020 through 2024. Since 2011 the EIA has estimated Alaska’s price by applying the West Coast regional trend to its 2010 level, the same method it uses for Hawaii. Alaska’s 2010 average happened to equal Hawaii’s, so the two states’ annual figures have matched to within a fraction of a cent every year since. The record annual average is $5.54, in 2022; adjusted for inflation, the high was 2012 ($6.12 in 2025 dollars) and the low 1999.

The EIA publishes no weekly price for Alaska. The regional series used for its estimate, the West Coast excluding California, is dominated by Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada. It runs about 11% below its annual average in January and 6.5% above in June, but that pattern describes the mainland West more than Alaska. The largest one-year increases in Alaska’s own record came in 1974 (+37.6%) and 1980 (+34.4%); the largest decline was 2009 (−22.2%).

In 1970 Alaska averaged $0.40 a gallon and ranked 50th-cheapest. In 1980 the average was $1.28 and the rank 47th-cheapest, and in 1990 the average was $1.25 with a rank of 45th-cheapest (tied). In 2000 the average was $1.59, again 45th-cheapest.

The least favourable ranking was 51st-cheapest (most expensive) in 2002, 2008, 2009. In 2010 Alaska averaged $3.38 and ranked 50th-cheapest (tied), and in 2020 it averaged $3.19 and ranked 50th-cheapest. Alaska averaged above the U.S. figure in 55 of 55 years from 1970 to 2024 and below it in 0 of 55. The gap reached $1.65 above the U.S. average in 2022.

In 2024 Alaska averaged $4.72, or $4.85 in constant 2025 dollars, while the U.S. average was $3.29. That put Alaska $1.44 above the U.S. average, 50th-cheapest and 2nd-most-expensive among the 50 states and D.C. From 2014 to 2024 the price at the pump rose 16.5%, while the same change in constant 2025 dollars fell 12.1%. The lowest annual average in constant 2025 dollars was $2.41, in 1999.

The state's 9.0¢ total in taxes and fees sits 24.8¢ below the 33.8¢ average across the 50 states and D.C. in the EIA table dated July 2026. The figures are EIA State Energy Data System annual averages, and year-to-year moves since 2011 are the region's moves.