Gas Prices in 1973
inflation-adjusted (CPI-U)
How 1973 ranks in the 1970–2025 record
The 37th-most-expensive year on record — the 20th-cheapest of 56 years.
The 53rd-highest pump price on record — before adjusting for inflation.
1973 is an annual-average year
Weekly U.S. data on this site start in 2000.
1973 vs. the years on either side
1973: the Arab oil embargo begins
The average price rose 7.6% in 1973, to $0.39 a gallon, and 1.3% after inflation. Most of the effect of the year’s events on the annual average arrived in 1974, because the embargo began in the last quarter.
Two policy changes early in the year opened the U.S. market to imports. In April 1973 the federal government ended the Mandatory Oil Import Program, the quota system that had limited foreign crude since 1959. Then, after the Yom Kippur War began on October 6, Arab members of OPEC declared an embargo on oil shipments to the United States in mid-October. According to the Federal Reserve, the price of oil rose from $2.90 a barrel before the embargo to $11.65 in January 1974, nearly four times as much.
In November President Nixon announced Project Independence, a goal of energy self-sufficiency by 1980, and in December the new Federal Energy Office took over allocation of petroleum supplies and control of oil and gasoline prices. A recession began in November 1973, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, and lasted until March 1975.
Sources: the annual price is the EIA State Energy Data System all-grades U.S. average in our database (approximate before 2000); other facts are from the sources listed here.
Texas, Hawaii and the 1973 State Range
Texas had the cheapest state average in 1973 at $0.35, while Hawaii had the most expensive at $0.45. Hawaii's $0.45 and Texas's $0.35 set the ends of the 1973 state range, which measured 10.3¢. A 1973 annual average higher than the national one was recorded in 27 of 51 states, D.C. included.
Measured in constant 2025 dollars, the 1973 national average was $2.81. The highest annual average in the series in those constant 2025 dollars is $5.08, recorded in 2012. That series covers 56 complete years, from 1970 through 2025, and 1973 is one of them.
The national average stood at $0.36 in 1972 and at $0.54 in 1974. Going from 1973 to 1974, the average rose 39.4% at the pump and rose 25.5% in constant 2025 dollars. Both of those changes start from the 1973 annual average.
Every 1973 state figure is an EIA State Energy Data System annual average for all grades. The national figure for 1973 is an approximation from the same system, covers all grades of motor gasoline, and includes taxes. The site holds no weekly data for 1973.
U.S. gas prices in 1973, answered
- What was the average price of gas in 1973?
- The U.S. average price of gasoline (all grades) in 1973 was $0.39 per gallon — about $2.81 in 2025 dollars after adjusting for inflation, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
- How does 1973 rank for gas prices in U.S. history?
- Adjusted for inflation, 1973 was the 37th-most-expensive year for gasoline out of the 56 years on record (1970–2025). In raw at-the-pump dollars it ranks 53rd.
- Were gas prices higher in 1973 than in 1972?
- Adjusted for inflation, gasoline (all grades) was more expensive in 1973 than in 1972, up 1.3% year over year ($2.78 → $2.81 in 2025 dollars).
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration. EIA State Energy Data System, all grades, taxes included (approximate; a different measure from the regular grade used from 2000). Constant 2025 dollars (CPI-U). How the figures are built.
More about 1973
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Download: U.S. national gas prices by year, 1970–present (CSV) · Weekly U.S. national gas prices, 2000–present (CSV).
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Cite as: US Gas Gauge, “Gas Prices in 1973,” usgasgauge.com/gas-prices/history/1973. Source data: U.S. Energy Information Administration.