Gas Prices in 1995

The average price rose 2.6% in 1995, to $1.14 a gallon. After inflation it fell 0.2%, to $2.42 in 2025 dollars, close to the 1994 level and the lowest in the record to that point.

On January 1, 1995, retail sale of federal reformulated gasoline began, as required by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. The rule applied first to the nine metropolitan areas with the worst ozone pollution, and other areas could opt in. Reformulated gasoline is blended to reduce smog-forming and toxic emissions and costs more to produce than conventional gasoline, which added to prices in the covered areas. It became a lasting source of price differences between regions of the country.

OPEC kept its production ceiling unchanged through the year, and crude supply was ample. The introduction of the new fuel was the main structural change in the market in 1995. The final step in the removal of lead from gasoline followed on January 1, 1996, when the sale of leaded fuel for road vehicles was banned.

Connecticut had the second-highest state average in 1995, $1.38, within a few cents of Hawaii’s $1.43. Alaska ($1.35) and the District of Columbia ($1.34) came next. Georgia remained the lowest at $0.97, and Oklahoma, at $1.03, was second-lowest, while South Carolina and Missouri tied for third. Rhode Island was fifth-highest, and Hawaii’s margin over the U.S. figure was 28.1¢.

The national average of $1.14 sits near the middle of the record at the pump, 33rd-highest, but after inflation it is one of the cheapest years on record: $2.42, which ranks 53rd-highest.

Measured against 1985, the pump price had moved very little, rising 1.6%; the real price had fallen 28.3%. The next ten years undid that and more. The 2005 average was 98.3% above 1995 in current dollars and 54.7% above it in constant dollars, which left 2005 dearer in real terms than 1985 had been. By 2015 the pump price had more than doubled from 1995, up 112.2%, and the real price was 36.4% higher.

The 1996 national average reached $1.22 at the pump, up 6.8% from 1995. In constant 2025 dollars the 1995 to 1996 change was an increase of 3.8%. One year before 1995, the 1994 average stood at $1.12 at the pump. That is the level from which the 1995 figure of $1.14 is measured.

Hawaii at $1.43 and Georgia at $0.97 marked the ends of the state range in 1995, which spanned 45.3¢. Prices in 31 of 51 states, with D.C. included in that total, were above the $1.14 national average for 1995. These state averages come from the EIA State Energy Data System and cover all grades of gasoline.

A ten-year look back gives a pump price of $1.13 for 1985, compared with $1.14 for 1995. The highest U.S. annual average in constant 2025 dollars among the 56 complete years from 1970 to 2025 is $5.08, set in 2012. The 1995 average in the same dollars is $2.42.

The 1995 national figure is the EIA State Energy Data System average for all grades of motor gasoline, with taxes included, and it is approximate. For 1995 the site holds no weekly data, so the annual figures above are the only national readings for that year.