US regular gasoline averages $4.01 per gallon as of the EIA week of 2026-08-10. At WTI's last close of $82.62 per barrel, crude oil alone accounts for about $1.97 of every gallon (49%) — the rest is refining, distribution and taxes. This page breaks down each component with live data and answers the most common questions.
| Component | Typical share | Share | What moves it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crude oil | ≈50% | The barrel price ÷ 42 gallons. Set by global supply and demand — OPEC+ output, US production, inventories, geopolitics. | |
| Refining | ≈15% | The crack spread — what refiners earn turning crude into gasoline. Spikes when refineries are down or capacity is tight. | |
| Distribution & marketing | ≈16% | Pipelines, terminals, trucking and the station's own margin (typically just 10–15¢/gal for the retailer). | |
| Taxes | ≈19% | Federal 18.4¢/gal plus state taxes ranging from about 9¢ (Alaska) to over 68¢ (California). |
Long-run average shares from EIA's gasoline pump-components data; the split shifts with the crude price (when crude is expensive its share rises above half). Live crude share right now: ≈49%. See current prices by state, gas prices by year and today's WTI price.
| Region | Regular ($/gal) | vs US average |
|---|---|---|
| East Coast | 3.88 | -0.12 |
| Midwest | 3.82 | -0.19 |
| Gulf Coast | 3.54 | -0.46 |
| Rocky Mountain | 4.12 | +0.12 |
| West Coast | 5.08 | +1.07 |
US regular gasoline averages $4.01 per gallon (EIA, week of 2026-08-10). The single biggest input is crude oil: at WTI's last close of $82.62 per barrel, the crude alone in each gallon costs about $1.97 — roughly 49% of the pump price. The rest is refining margin, distribution and marketing, and federal plus state taxes. When pump prices jump, the cause is almost always crude prices or refining capacity, not the gas station.
The West Coast currently averages $5.08 versus $3.54 on the Gulf Coast. The gap comes from higher state fuel taxes and fees, special low-emission fuel blends (like California's CARB gasoline) that few refineries outside the region can make, and limited pipeline connections to the rest of the country — so local refinery outages hit prices hard.
Economists call it "rockets and feathers." Stations pass crude increases through within days to protect thin margins, but on the way down they lower prices only as fast as competition forces them to, recovering margin lost during the spike. Studies consistently find pump prices respond to crude increases faster than to decreases.
Typically late spring through summer. Refineries switch to more expensive summer-blend gasoline (required from roughly May to mid-September), driving demand peaks, and hurricane season can knock out Gulf Coast refining capacity. Prices usually ease in fall when winter blend returns and demand drops.
Only at the margins. Pump prices track global crude markets, refining capacity and seasonal demand; policy tools like SPR releases or tax holidays shift prices by cents, not dollars, and usually temporarily. OPEC+ decisions, wars, refinery outages and recessions move prices far more than any administration.