Gas Prices in 1975

The average price rose 7.4% in 1975, to $0.58 a gallon, but fell 1.6% after inflation, to $3.47 in 2025 dollars. With general inflation still high, the real price of gasoline began a slow decline from its 1974 level that lasted until 1978.

The recession that began in late 1973 ended in March 1975, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. The main policy change came at the end of the year. On December 22, 1975, President Ford signed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. It extended federal price controls on domestic crude oil, set the first federal fuel economy standards for new cars, and authorized the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

New cars from the 1975 model year were built with catalytic converters, which require unleaded gasoline. That made unleaded fuel a standard product at stations and began the long phasedown of lead in gasoline that ended with a ban on leaded fuel for road vehicles in 1996.

Alabama had the cheapest gasoline of any state in 1975, at $0.53, the only year between 1970 and 1999 in which it held that place. Mississippi and South Carolina followed. Hawaii was the dearest at $0.68, 10.0¢ above the national all-grades average of $0.58, with Alaska next and Maryland and the District of Columbia close behind. Texas, the cheapest state the year before, slipped to 4th at $0.55, and the distance from the cheapest state to the dearest was wider than it had been in 1974.

Among the ten years of the 1970s, 1975 was the third most expensive once inflation is removed; only 1979 and 1974 cost more in constant dollars. Its figure of $3.47 ranks 21st-highest across the whole record, against 51st-highest before adjustment.

Over the following two decades the pump price roughly doubled: the 1995 average was 97.3% higher. In the same span the price in 2025 dollars fell 30.3%, to $2.42, because consumer prices in general rose faster than fuel. A quicker doubling came first. By 1980 the average of $1.23 was more than twice the 1975 figure, the earliest year to reach that mark.

Alabama's $0.53 and Hawaii's $0.68 marked the ends of the 1975 state table, 14.8¢ apart. Above the $0.58 national figure sat 26 of 51 states, D.C. included, in 1975. Each of those state numbers is an EIA annual average covering all grades in 1975.

The national path through the middle of the decade runs $0.54 in 1974, $0.58 in 1975 and $0.61 in 1976. The 1976 step was a rise of 4.3% at the pump from 1975, yet the same 1975 to 1976 move in constant 2025 dollars was a fall of 1.4%. The national figures for 1975 and 1976 are at the pump, meaning not adjusted for inflation, while $3.47 for 1975 is the 2025-dollar version.

The 1975 figure of $3.47 in 2025 dollars compares with $5.08 for 2012, the highest constant-dollar annual average from 1970 to 2025, a span that holds 56 complete years. The $0.58 for 1975 is approximate, being the EIA State Energy Data System average for all grades of motor gasoline with taxes included. For 1975 the site carries annual figures only, with no weekly data. Constant-dollar amounts, including $3.47 for 1975 and $5.08 for 2012, are expressed in 2025 dollars using CPI-U.