Gas Prices in Houston Today

Texas has more refining capacity than any other state, about 6.1 million barrels a day of crude distillation capacity in EIA’s January 2026 survey, and several of the largest are in the metro: ExxonMobil’s Baytown refinery (564,500), Marathon’s Galveston Bay refinery in Texas City (631,000), and the Deer Park refinery (312,500). The Colonial Pipeline, which connects 29 refineries and carries gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, starts in Houston and runs as far as New York Harbor. The EPA lists eight counties (Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller) as the Houston–Galveston–Brazoria reformulated-gasoline area.

Texas taxes gasoline at 20¢ a gallon, a rate unchanged since 1991.

Since June 2000, Houston has averaged 26¢ below the U.S. price and has been below the national figure in more than 99% of weeks; since 2021 the gap has averaged 47¢. It has also averaged 3¢ below the Texas statewide price. The refineries’ exposure to Gulf storms carries over to local prices. Hurricane Harvey made landfall in late August 2017, Gulf Coast refinery runs fell by about a third, and the Houston price rose 35¢ in one week, from $2.08 to $2.43 in the week of September 4, 2017. The highest weekly price in the series is $4.62, in the week of June 13, 2022.

The Houston series opens on June 5, 2000, at $1.49 for regular. The lowest weekly price came in the week of December 17, 2001, at $0.97. The lowest yearly average is $1.27 in 2002, and 2001 averaged $1.33.

Yearly averages then climbed: $1.43 in 2003, $1.71 in 2004, $2.17 in 2005 and $3.08 in 2008. In 2009 the average was $2.17. From 2011 to 2014 the averages were $3.34, $3.42, $3.29 and $3.13. The largest fall in a yearly average came in 2015, when it decreased 32.0% to $2.13. The averages were $1.87 in 2016 and $1.82 in 2020.

The largest rise in a yearly average came in 2021, when it increased 44.1% to $2.62. In 2022 the average reached $3.45, the highest yearly average in the series. Later averages were $3.01 in 2023, $2.83 in 2024 and $2.61 in 2025.

Within 2025, the highest week was $2.75, in the week of June 23, 2025, and the lowest was $2.32, in the week of December 29, 2025. The difference between the highest and lowest weekly prices of 2025 was 43.2¢.