Maine Gas Prices This Week

In the EIA’s July 2026 (revised August 2026) table of motor fuel taxes, Maine’s state taxes and fees on gasoline total 31.5¢ a gallon, the 24th-highest of the 50 states and D.C. The 51-jurisdiction average is 33.8¢, and the federal tax adds 18.4¢ everywhere. Maine’s excise tax has been 30¢ since the legislature repealed annual inflation indexing in 2011, effective January 1, 2012. A groundwater oil clean-up fee adds about 1.5¢ a gallon.

Maine has no refineries. The EIA reports that New England is supplied primarily by tanker and barge to coastal terminals, and in Maine those terminals are mostly around Portland Harbor. Seven southern and midcoast counties (Androscoggin, Cumberland, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, and York) were in the federal reformulated-gasoline program until the state’s opt-out took effect on September 30, 2021, according to the EPA.

In the EIA’s annual state series, Maine has moved between the expensive and middle parts of the ranking. It was 45th-cheapest of 51 in 1970, 12th in 1980, 42nd in 1990, and 40th in 2024. Its average gap to the U.S. figure was 0.3¢ above in the 1970s, 8.3¢ above in the 2000s, 12.3¢ above in the 2010s, and 7.0¢ above in 2020–2024. The highest annual average is $4.04, in 2022, 14.9¢ above the U.S. average. In 2008 Maine averaged $3.31, 13.9¢ above. Adjusted for inflation the peak was 2012, at $5.27 in 2025 dollars. The largest one-year increases were in 1980 (38.6%) and 2021 (35.9%); the largest decline was in 2015 (29.3%).

Maine has no weekly EIA series, so its seasonal pattern is best read from the weekly New England region (PADD 1A). Averaged over 2004–2025, prices there are 7.7% below the year’s average in January and 6.1% above in June, with July (5.8%) and August (4.7%) close behind.

Maine’s only neighbor, New Hampshire, has had the lower annual average in 45 of the 55 years of the EIA series. In 2024 New Hampshire averaged $3.25 against Maine’s $3.35. Southern Maine drivers along Interstate 95 are a short drive from Portsmouth. In the EIA tax table New Hampshire’s state tax is 23.7¢, against 31.5¢ in Maine. Maine was the cheaper of the two only in 1974, 1976–1983, and 2001.

Against the whole country, Maine was cheaper only in 1975–1982, a stretch that covers the second oil shock. Its best ranking, 7th of 51 counting from the cheapest, came in 1982. Since then its average has stayed above the national figure, with the largest premium, 21.3¢, in 2013.

The decade to 2024 narrowed the distance somewhat. Maine’s average went from $3.52 in 2014 to $3.35, its rank from 44th to 40th, and its premium over the U.S. in 2024 was 6.1¢. Deliveries by tanker and barge into Portland and long truck runs to the north and east keep the state near the expensive end of the ranking.

Maine's cheapest ranking in the EIA annual series was 7th-cheapest in 1982, and its least favourable was 48th-cheapest (4th-most-expensive) in 1971. The years in which Maine averaged below the U.S. figure were 1975–1982, which is 8 of 55 years; the other 47 of 55 years were above it. In 1982 the gap below the U.S. was 3.9¢, and in 2013 the gap above was 21.3¢.

Maine's annual average was $0.38 in 1970, $1.21 in 1980 and $1.22 in 1990. It reached $1.54 in 2000 and $2.84 in 2010, when the state ranked 38th-cheapest. In 2020 the average was $2.21, and the rank was 33rd-cheapest. The 2024 average of $3.35 was 6.1¢ above the U.S. figure of $3.29, and the 2024 rank counted from the most expensive was 12th-most-expensive.

Measured in constant 2025 dollars, Maine's highest annual average was $5.27 in 2012, and its lowest was $2.18 in 1998. The 2024 figure in those dollars was $3.44. Over 2014 to 2024 the price at the pump fell 4.8%, while the constant-dollar figure fell 28.2%. Because the EIA estimates each year after 2010 from the change in the state's region, the moves since 2011 are the region's moves.

For 2024, New Hampshire averaged $3.25, so Maine was 9.7¢ above its one bordering state, and 1 of 1 bordering states averaged less than Maine. On taxes, Maine's 31.5¢ (EIA table, July 2026) total sits 2.3¢ below the 33.8¢ average across the 50 states and D.C.