A march to an all-time record is on again, and the path to it is likely to unite Californians — in their anger at gas prices, boiling as drivers watch their totals reach higher and higher.
“It’s nothing but a financial burden, man,” 31-year-old Saleh Abdullah said as he pumped gas at the Costco station on Monument Boulevard, where regular unleaded was $5.89 a gallon Wednesday. The statewide average, according to the American Automobile Association, reached $6.39 a gallon Wednesday — about five cents shy of of the all-time state record, set in 2022, and represents the highest state average price recorded in the nation this year.
Diesel fuel averaged $8.39 a gallon in the state on Wednesday, also 4 cents shy of the all-time mark — which was only eight days old.
With the national average at $4.43 a gallon for regular unleaded and $6.41 a gallon for diesel — both within a dollar of their all-time highs — drivers expressed exasperation and despair.
“Most of the money I make is going to gas right now,” 20-year-old Daniel Benitez said as he put $40 worth of gas into his truck at a Chevron gas station on the corner of First and Younger streets in San Jose. Regular unleaded gas was $6.79 a gallon at the station Wednesday.
“I’ve got to fill up everyday,” he said. “Depending on the car I use, I’m using anywhere from like 50 to 70 bucks a day. I can’t drive my nice cars no more, because there’s too much gas (usage), and I have somewhat of a heavy foot. … Honestly, it’s hard, but what can I do?”
With no end in sight for the Iran and Ukraine wars, which have both had major effects on oil and gas prices, it’s unclear when the cost may fall again. Severin Borenstein, a professor at the Haas School of Business and a faculty member at UC Berkeley, said a number of reasons — all of them bad, and not all of them tied to the wars— have combined to drive fuel prices so high.
Those conflicts have disrupted the oil supplies and the margins at refineries in California, and the state also has prices uniquely higher than the rest of the country because a number of those refineries are shrinking, Borenstein said. Tax laws and environmental restrictions also drive up the gas prices.
Borenstein added that just as influential, if not more, is the wholesale spot price for gasoline in California. The wholesale spot price is the real-time price of a product that’s ready for immediate delivery.
“California has a different blend of gas and its own supply issues that make the California wholesale spot price way more volatile that the rest of the country,” Borenstein said. “It’s usually 20-to-30 cents higher than the rest of the country. Right now, it’s $1 more.”
Summer usage of gasoline also can raise prices, as more drivers hit the roads in good weather and heavy usage can lead to shortages as autumn begins.
Doug Johnson, a spokesperson for AAA, said holiday travel for the Memorial Day and Fourth of July holidays set records this year.
“Typically, this is when we see prices drop because demand drops,” Johnson said. “People won’t be taking trips until Thanksgiving. So usually, in that situation, you see some relief.”
Borenstein added, however: “Fall is always a difficult period. Lots of refineries get through the summer producing a lot of gas for the high summer demand. Then they do maintenance. If too many of them do their maintenance at the same time and we don’t have a backfill of imports, we have a shortfall.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken steps to provide relief, instructing state officials to switch to the lower-priced winter blend of fuel a month earlier than normal. Winter-blend gas is typically about 10 to 30 cents a gallon cheaper than the summer rate, Johnson said.
“It’s already happened in Nevada and Arizona, “Johnson said. “Prices still went up there. They just didn’t go up as much as with the summer blend.”
Regardless, most Californians still are struggling with prices that feel like they keep climbing. A week ago, the average price of gas in California was $6.20 a gallon. A month ago, it was $5.68. A year ago, $4.64.
“For regular Chevron gas, it would cost me anywhere from $230 to $240 for a full tank of gas, because I have a 33-gallon fuel tank on this truck,” Fabian Lopez, 25, of San Jose, said as he pumped ethanol. “It definitely is alarming, considering that groceries can cost on average anywhere from $400 to $430 (per trip) for a familiy of three or four. … It’s not a lot of money that people have.”
Fabian Lopez, of San Jose, gets gas Chevron on the corner of East Younger Avenue and North First Street in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
Borenstein said Newsom’s choice to switch over to a winter blend is “the solution moving forward.”
“It’s slightly more polluting if it’s hot, so we generally don’t use it in the summer,” he said. “It evaporates more. But according to the petroleum industry people, it will incease the supply use, because it blends different components.”
Still, even those in the oil industry recognize how much harder things are.
“I am delivering 8,600 gallons of fuel,” Francisco Rios said while sitting behing the driver’s wheel of an oil tanker at a Shell station in Concord, where regular unleaded gas was $6.59 per gallon and and disel fuel $8.99. “This truck takes 50 gallons a day to drive. Get the calculator out.”
Tank truck driver Francisco Rios, of Sacramento, gets ready to leave after delivering 8,600 gallons of gas to a Shell station on Olivera Road near Port Chicago Highway in Concord, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Abdullah, a shop owner in Concord, stood next to his 2002 Jeep Wrangler TJ in Concord, a vehicle he said he uses instead of his truck.
“I have three kids, and first I take them to school. Then I sometimes take my wife to work. I have more than one stop,” he said. “I’ve got a new diesel truck in my driveway at home that I never use. It’s out of control.”
The price of gas a person got for almost six gallons at Chevron on the corner of East Younger Avenue and North First Street in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)