Gasoline has become one of the clearest sources of renewed price pressure for American consumers.
The Consumer Price Index for gasoline of all types was 24.6% higher in July 2026 than in July 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That compares with a 3.4% increase in the overall Consumer Price Index over the same 12 months.
The increase does not mean gasoline rose steadily throughout the year. Prices moved sharply higher during parts of 2026 and then retreated from their recent peaks. In July alone, the gasoline index fell 2.9% after seasonal adjustment, following a 9.7% decline in June. Even after those monthly decreases, however, prices remained substantially above their level a year earlier.
What The 24.6% Increase Measures
The headline figure comes from the BLS Consumer Price Index and measures changes in the prices paid by urban consumers. It is a price index, rather than a simple comparison of two national pump-price averages.
For gasoline, BLS uses a secondary dataset containing daily average prices reported for fuel types at stations within the CPI's geographic coverage. The dataset provides millions of observations and includes information such as fuel type, station location and price per gallon. BLS reviews the data, removes outliers and calculates monthly price indexes from the daily observations.
The gasoline category includes regular, midgrade, premium and other gasoline types. In July, the indexes for regular gasoline rose 25.3% from a year earlier, midgrade increased 23.0% and premium climbed 21.5%.
BLS also publishes estimated average retail prices, which are a separate statistical product from the CPI indexes. Those estimates show that the U.S. city average for gasoline of all types reached $4.242 per gallon in July 2026, compared with $3.422 in July 2025, an increase of 24.0%. Regular unleaded averaged $4.094 per gallon, up 24.6% from $3.285 a year earlier.
Average-price estimates and CPI indexes should therefore not be treated as interchangeable, even when their percentage changes are similar. BLS notes that the CPI sample is designed primarily to measure price changes rather than average price levels.
Energy Has Become A Major Source Of Inflation
Gasoline's increase has helped make energy considerably more expensive than it was a year ago.
The broader BLS energy index rose 14.7% over the 12 months through July, while energy commodities increased 24.7%. Motor fuel, which includes gasoline and other fuels used in consumer vehicles, increased 24.8%. By comparison, food prices were up 3.0%, shelter rose 3.2% and the index excluding food and energy increased 2.5%.
That gap matters because gasoline prices are unusually visible to consumers. Unlike many household expenses that are paid monthly, fuel prices are displayed prominently at service stations and can change quickly as conditions in crude oil and refined-product markets shift.
Higher Crude Oil Prices Drove Fuel Costs Up
The U.S. Energy Information Administration has identified higher crude oil prices as a primary driver of the increase in gasoline and other petroleum-product prices during 2026.
In its June Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA said Brent crude oil rose from an average of about $71 per barrel in February to $117 in April, pushing wholesale gasoline prices higher. The agency linked the increase to supply concerns surrounding severe restrictions on oil movements through the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil-market volatility continued into the summer. EIA reported that Brent fell to around $69 a barrel on July 2 before renewed attacks on tankers and reduced shipments through the Strait of Hormuz helped push the price as high as $105 per barrel on July 23.
Conditions in refined-product markets have also mattered. In its August outlook, EIA said lower refined-product exports from Russia, disruptions affecting product flows from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and reduced refinery runs in China had contributed to tighter global petroleum-product markets. The agency said those conditions were supporting relatively high U.S. refinery margins.
Pump Prices Remained Above $4 Into Late August
More recent weekly EIA data indicate that gasoline remained expensive after the July CPI measurement period.
The national average retail price for regular gasoline was $4.071 per gallon for the week ending August 31, 2026. One year earlier, EIA reported a weekly average of $3.177 for the week ending September 1, 2025.
Those weekly figures are not directly comparable with the BLS CPI calculation. EIA publishes national retail gasoline price estimates in dollars per gallon, while BLS constructs a consumer price index using its own methodology and monthly observation period. Both measures, however, show gasoline prices substantially above their levels in the comparable period of 2025.
The Outlook Still Depends Heavily On Oil Markets
EIA's August Short-Term Energy Outlook forecasts an average U.S. retail gasoline price of $3.78 per gallon for 2026, compared with an estimated $3.10 in 2025. That is a forecast for the full-year average, not a prediction that gasoline will remain at any particular price throughout the rest of the year.
The agency also expects U.S. commercial crude oil inventories to remain below the five-year range through the end of 2026. At the same time, relatively high refinery margins are expected to encourage strong refinery runs, although seasonal maintenance is projected to reduce refinery activity during September and October.
For consumers, the latest inflation data capture just how quickly energy costs have changed. Gasoline prices were 24.6% higher in July than a year earlier, even after substantial declines from their recent monthly highs.
July remains the latest available CPI reading as of September 7. The BLS is scheduled to publish its August 2026 Consumer Price Index on September 11, providing the next official measure of whether the large year-over-year increase in gasoline prices has begun to moderate.