According to AAA, the national average price of regular unleaded gasoline came in at $4.43 a gallon on Thursday — a gain of 16 cents over the previous week and roughly $1.20 higher than the same point last year. The climb brings prices within striking distance of this year’s record high of $4.56 a gallon, set on May 21.
Crude oil is averaging $100 a barrel amid continued disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, AAA said. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s most recent weekly data, covering the period ending Sept. 14, put the national average at $4.319 a gallon — a jump of 16 cents from the week before. Both measures reflect a price environment that has more than doubled the gains seen just two weeks earlier, when the national average was $4.07 a gallon at the end of August.
Regional prices show significant variation. The West Coast carried the highest average at $5.467 a gallon for the week ending Sept. 14, according to EIA data, while California drivers faced the steepest prices in the country. On Thursday, California’s statewide average stood at $6.09 a gallon, followed by Washington at $5.58 and Nevada at $5.19, according to USA Today. Gulf Coast states remained the least expensive region, averaging $3.852 a gallon in the EIA’s Sept. 14 reading. Diesel prices have risen sharply as well, with the national on-highway average reaching $6.285 a gallon as of Sept. 14, up more than $2.54 from a year earlier.
President Donald Trump addressed the rising costs at a Sept. 16 rally in Gastonia, North Carolina. “It’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done,” Trump said, adding that prices would “come tumbling down,” according to USA Today.
Gas prices have been a persistent political pressure point since the conflict began. Prices set a holiday record that week, with the national average hitting $4.15 a gallon over Labor Day weekend — the first Labor Day in history above the $4 threshold. The Iran war, which began Feb. 28, severely restricted crude oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz; EIA data showed daily throughput in the strait fell to about 4.9 million barrels in the second quarter of this year, compared with 21.6 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, testifying before the House Financial Services Committee earlier this week, defended the administration’s Iran strategy as Democrats pressed him on rising energy costs and inflation. A Brown University analysis cited by NBC News estimated that American consumers have paid more than $50 billion extra in fuel costs since the conflict began.