Gas Prices in Los Angeles Today

California’s fuel market is isolated from the rest of the country: no major pipelines connect it to the Gulf Coast or Midwest refining centers, so when local supply falls short, replacement gasoline comes by tanker, often from refineries in Asia. The state also requires its own gasoline blendstock, CARBOB, which only suitably equipped refineries can make. Los Angeles is the state’s largest refining area. EIA’s January 2026 survey lists Marathon’s (Tesoro) Carson refinery at 365,000 barrels a day, Chevron’s El Segundo refinery at 285,000, the Torrance refinery at 160,000 and Valero’s Wilmington refinery at 85,000. Phillips 66’s Los Angeles refinery, which the company planned to close in late 2025, is no longer in the survey.

California’s gasoline excise tax is 63.4¢ a gallon from July 1, 2026, up from 61.2¢; the state adjusts it each July 1 for inflation. Gasoline also carries a state sales tax of 2.25% plus local district taxes.

Since June 2000, Los Angeles has averaged 61¢ above the U.S. price, above it in 98% of weeks, and within half a cent of the California average. The gap has widened: in 2026 through September it has averaged $1.44. The largest weekly increase in the series came while the Torrance refinery was still recovering from a February 18, 2015, explosion in a unit essential to making gasoline: in the week of July 13, 2015, the Los Angeles price rose 77¢, from $3.53 to $4.31, while the U.S. average was $2.83. The series high is $6.23, in the week of June 13, 2022.

The weekly series opens on June 5, 2000, at $1.54 for a gallon of regular. The lowest weekly price through 2025 came in the week of December 31, 2001, at $0.97, and the lowest yearly average was $1.47 in 2002. Yearly averages then read $1.82 in 2003, $2.15 in 2004 and $2.49 in 2005.

The highest weekly price through 2025 was $6.23, in the week of June 13, 2022. The 2022 average of $5.28 is also the highest yearly average, and it rose 32.4% from the year before. The largest fall in the yearly average came in 2009, when it decreased 23.4% to $2.69.

In between, the average was $4.08 in 2012, $3.29 in 2015 and $2.80 in 2016. It was $3.59 in 2019, $3.04 in 2020 and $3.99 in 2021.

After 2022 the yearly average was $4.78 in 2023, $4.46 in 2024 and $4.37 in 2025. In 2025 the highest week was $4.64, the week of April 7, 2025, and the lowest was $4.03, the week of December 29, 2025, a difference of 60.1¢.