Gas Prices in 1986
inflation-adjusted (CPI-U)
How 1986 ranks in the 1970–2025 record
The 49th-most-expensive year on record — the 8th-cheapest of 56 years.
The 47th-highest pump price on record — before adjusting for inflation.
1986 is an annual-average year
Weekly U.S. data on this site start in 2000.
1986 vs. the years on either side
1986: the oil price collapse
The average price fell 24.6% in 1986, from $1.13 to $0.85 a gallon, the largest annual decline in this record until 2009. After inflation the drop was 26.1%, to $2.49 in 2025 dollars, a lower real price than in any year of the 1970s.
The cause was a collapse in crude oil prices. After Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy of limiting its own output in late 1985 and raised production to regain market share, world crude prices fell from the upper $20s a barrel to around $10 at points during 1986. The oversupply that had been building since the early 1980s, from lower demand and new production in places such as Alaska, the North Sea, and Mexico, came through in a single year.
In October 1986 Congress added a 0.1¢ fee to the federal gasoline tax to fund cleanup of leaking underground storage tanks. It was the one tax change of the year and did not affect the direction of prices. In December, OPEC members agreed to return to production quotas and a fixed reference price of $18 a barrel from January 1987, which ended the fall.
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.
1986 Against Missouri, Hawaii and 1987
Missouri recorded the cheapest state average in 1986 at $0.76, while Hawaii recorded the most expensive at $1.20. The 44.0¢ between them is the gap for that year, and the U.S. average sat at $0.85. A 1986 average above that U.S. figure was recorded in 29 of 51 states, counting D.C.
Set against the year before, 1985 stood at $1.13. The 1986 price fell 24.6% at the pump from that level, and it fell 26.1% in constant 2025 dollars. The price then moved up: 1987 came in at $0.90, which was 6.5% higher than 1986 at the pump and 2.8% higher in constant 2025 dollars.
Ten years earlier, in 1976, the average was $0.61 at the pump. From 1976 to 1986 the average in constant 2025 dollars fell 27.2%. In those same 2025 dollars, 1986 stood at $2.49, while the highest annual figure on record was $5.08, reached in 2012.
On the ranking of 56 complete years from 1970 to 2025, 1986 holds 47th-highest at the pump. The national figure for 1986 is approximate: before 2000 it is the EIA State Energy Data System average for all grades of motor gasoline, taxes included.
U.S. gas prices in 1986, answered
- What was the average price of gas in 1986?
- The U.S. average price of gasoline (all grades) in 1986 was $0.85 per gallon — about $2.49 in 2025 dollars after adjusting for inflation, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
- How does 1986 rank for gas prices in U.S. history?
- Adjusted for inflation, 1986 was the 49th-most-expensive year for gasoline out of the 56 years on record (1970–2025). In raw at-the-pump dollars it ranks 47th.
- Were gas prices higher in 1986 than in 1985?
- Adjusted for inflation, gasoline (all grades) was cheaper in 1986 than in 1985, down 26.1% year over year ($3.37 → $2.49 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 1986
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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 1986,” usgasgauge.com/gas-prices/history/1986. Source data: U.S. Energy Information Administration.