Gas Prices in 2018

The 2018 average was $2.72, 30.4¢ above 2017 and 9.9% higher after inflation, the highest annual average since 2014. The EIA identified higher crude oil prices as the main driver: in late August, Brent crude was about $18 a barrel higher than a year earlier.

The rise was gradual rather than sudden. The largest weekly increase in 2018 was only 5.3¢, in the week of April 16. Prices climbed from $2.52 in the first week of January to $2.96 in the week of May 28, the year’s high, and the monthly average stayed between $2.84 and $2.90 from May through October.

In the fourth quarter, crude oil prices fell sharply, and gasoline followed. The monthly average dropped from $2.86 in October to $2.37 in December, and the largest weekly decline, 8.8¢, came in the week of December 3. The year’s low was its final week, December 31, at $2.27, about 25¢ below where it began and 70¢ below the May high.

The 2018 average of $2.72 was 22.4% below 2013’s and 16.2% below 2008’s in current dollars. After inflation both gaps widen and end up about the same size: 28.0% below 2013 and 28.2% below 2008. Set against 2000 instead, 2018 was 83.2% higher at the pump but only 25.6% higher in real terms. Despite the rise from 2017, the year stood 13th among complete years since 1970 by the unadjusted average and only 20th in 2025 dollars. By December 31, 2018, the year’s last week, the price was down to $2.27, below the 2017 annual average of $2.42.

The state picture from EIA’s all-grades estimates had a familiar shape. Georgia, which had not had the lowest price since 2014, had the lowest average in 2018 again, $2.43, and Alabama the next-lowest, $2.45. Hawaii ($3.70) and Alaska ($3.70), a fraction of a cent apart, were the most expensive, with California third at $3.38, 67.2¢ above the U.S. figure; the national all-grades average that year was $2.71.

The national average rose 12.6% at the pump from 2017, when it was $2.42, to 2018. The following year it fell 4.2% at the pump, to $2.60 in 2019. Adjusted to 2025 dollars, the 2019 average fell 5.9% from the 2018 figure, which was $3.49 on that basis.

Constant-dollar figures are in 2025 dollars (CPI-U), and figures described as at the pump are not adjusted for inflation. Inflation-adjusted annual averages from 1970 to 2025 peaked in 2012 at $5.08. At the pump, 2008 averaged $3.25 and 2018 averaged $2.72. The 2018 national figure is the mean of EIA's weekly U.S. regular-grade retail prices, and 2018 has 53 weeks of data; the highest and lowest weekly prices differed by 69.6¢.

The 2018 state estimates come from the EIA State Energy Data System and cover all grades. Georgia, at $2.43, had the lowest state average in 2018 and Hawaii, at $3.70, the highest; the difference between them was $1.27. Above the U.S. average on that basis in 2018 were 23 of 51 states, counting D.C.