Arkansas Gas Prices This Week

In the EIA’s July 2026 (revised August 2026) table of motor fuel taxes, Arkansas’s state taxes and fees on gasoline total 25.0¢ a gallon, tied for the 15th-lowest of the 50 states and D.C. The 51-jurisdiction average is 33.8¢, and the federal tax adds 18.4¢ everywhere. Arkansas taxes gasoline two ways. A flat excise of 21.5¢ a gallon is joined by a wholesale sales tax on motor fuel, created by Act 416 of 2019 and in effect since October 1, 2019, that added about 3¢ a gallon. Because the second tax is a percentage of the wholesale price, it can rise with fuel prices, though the law limits how much it can change from one year to the next. State law also caps the rate near borders at no more than 1¢ above the neighboring state’s.

The state has two refineries, both in the south near El Dorado: Delek’s Lion Oil refinery in El Dorado and the small Cross refinery in Smackover, with about 90,500 barrels a day of combined capacity. Arkansas sits between the Gulf Coast and Midwest refining centers, and Louisiana and Texas refineries are a short pipeline distance to the south.

In the EIA’s annual data, Arkansas has been among the ten cheapest states in 18 of the 25 years since 2000, and fifth cheapest in 2016, 2020, and 2024. Its average gap to the U.S. average was 6.4¢ below in the 2000s, 17.0¢ below in the 2010s, and 32.9¢ below in 2020–2024. Arkansas’s record annual average is $3.53 in 2022. Adjusted for inflation, the most expensive year was 1981, at $4.89 in 2025 dollars; the least expensive was 1998, at $1.96.

Arkansas is in the EIA’s Gulf Coast region (PADD 3). The region’s weekly prices typically climb early: by April they average 2.6% above the year’s mean, peak in June at 6.5% above, and bottom out in January at 9.0% below.

Tennessee, at $3.08, was the bordering state with the highest 2024 average, and Texas, at $2.88, was the lowest. Arkansas stood at $2.92 that year, which placed it 5th-cheapest among the 50 states and D.C. and 47th-most-expensive counted from the other end. Its 2024 average was 36.2¢ below the U.S. figure of $3.29.

Arkansas first appeared among the cheapest states in 1970, when its $0.34 average was 7th-cheapest. By 1980 the average was $1.24, and the rank was 28th-cheapest (tied). The rank was 10th-cheapest in 1990 at $1.11, 6th-cheapest in 2000 at $1.41, 13th-cheapest in 2010 at $2.65 and 5th-cheapest in 2020 at $1.89. Its least favourable ranking in the series was 29th-cheapest (23rd-most-expensive) in 1977, and its cheapest was 2nd-cheapest in 1984 and 2009.

Only 6 of 55 years from 1970 to 2024 put Arkansas above the U.S. average: 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1986 and 1987. The largest amount above was 1.3¢, in 1981. The other 48 years fell below, and the largest amount below was 37.0¢, in 2023.

The annual average rose 43.7% in 2021, its largest one-year rise, and fell 30.4% in 2009, its largest one-year fall. The record of $3.53 came in 2022. Measured in 2025 dollars, the 2024 average was $3.00. Since the EIA estimates each year after 2010 from the change in the state's region, the moves from 2011 onward, including 2021 and 2024, are the region's moves.