US Gas Prices Hit a Record August High of $4.10 a Gallon

Drivers filling up this week are paying the most they have paid at the pump all August. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline reached $4.10 on August 20, according to AAA, capping a month of swings driven largely by tanker traffic disruptions near the Strait of Hormuz.

The price has moved in three directions in three weeks. AAA recorded $4.06 a gallon on August 6 as crude oil eased toward $70 a barrel. Prices then fell as low as $4.00 in the days that followed, only to climb back to $4.07 by August 13 and $4.10 a week later. Crude oil has traded back up into the $80-a-barrel range through most of August, and AAA points to continued uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz as the driver behind the rebound.

Why the Strait of Hormuz Keeps Moving Gas Prices

The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade, making it one of the most closely watched chokepoints in the global economy. Military action in the region this year has repeatedly disrupted tanker traffic through the strait, and volumes of crude and petroleum liquids moving through it fell to an average of 4.9 million barrels a day in the second quarter of 2026, down from 21.6 million barrels a day in the final quarter of 2025 before the conflict began.

Brent crude spiked as high as $105 a barrel on July 23 following renewed attacks on tankers transiting the strait. Every time shipping through the region is threatened, oil traders bid prices higher on fears of a supply shortfall, and gas stations pass that cost to drivers within days. When shipping risk eases, as it did briefly in early August, prices at the pump follow it back down. That volatility explains why AAA’s daily average has bounced between $4.00 and $4.10 in the space of three weeks.

Where Drivers Are Paying the Most and Least

Gas prices vary sharply by state, and the gap has widened as the national average has climbed. Using AAA data compiled by Choose Energy, California led the country at $5.64 a gallon in early August, followed by Hawaii at $5.46 and Washington at $5.13. Nevada and Alaska rounded out the five most expensive states, both above $4.75.

Drivers paid the least in Indiana, where prices averaged $3.57 a gallon even after the state posted the largest single-month jump anywhere in the country, up 17.1 percent from $3.05 in early July. Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi rounded out the five cheapest states, all under $3.65 a gallon. Utah recorded the second-steepest monthly increase at 14.9 percent, followed by Delaware at 12.6 percent and Ohio at 12.1 percent.

Nationally, the average price rose 7.5 percent between July 6 and August 5, from $3.80 to $4.08 a gallon. Only Alaska and Hawaii recorded a decline over that stretch, and each fell by just a tenth of a percent.

The pattern of increases shows up almost everywhere on the map, not just in the handful of states already known for expensive gas. Arizona rose 11.9 percent to $4.40 a gallon over the same month. Nebraska climbed 11.4 percent to $3.90. Maryland rose 11.3 percent to $4.12. Colorado increased 10.8 percent to $4.07, and Oklahoma, typically among the cheapest states in the country, still climbed 10.7 percent to $3.67. Wisconsin rounded out the list of the ten steepest state increases at 10.3 percent, landing at $3.93 a gallon. The breadth of the increase across states with very different baseline prices points to a national cost pressure, tied to crude oil, rather than a regional supply problem specific to any one part of the country.

What This Means for Household Budgets

For a driver who fills a 15-gallon tank twice a month, the jump from July’s $3.80 average to August’s $4.10 adds roughly $9 a month, or more than $100 a year, if prices hold. Households in California, Hawaii and Washington face a steeper hit given their gas already costs well above the national average. A driver in California filling the same tank twice a month at $5.64 a gallon pays about $169 monthly for fuel, compared with roughly $107 for a driver in Indiana.

Commercial drivers and delivery fleets feel the swings even more directly, as fuel surcharges built into freight contracts often adjust weekly based on the national average. A sustained climb back toward $4.10 typically shows up in freight costs within two to three weeks, which can filter into retail prices on everything from groceries to furniture.

How to Cut Your Fuel Costs Right Now

Drivers looking to soften the impact have a few practical options. Loyalty programs at chains such as Kroger, Safeway and Costco routinely knock 10 to 30 cents off each gallon when paired with a grocery purchase. Apps including GasBuddy and AAA’s own fuel price tracker show real-time price differences between stations that are often a mile or two apart and can vary by 20 cents or more even within the same city.

Basic maintenance also has a bigger effect on the bill when prices are elevated. Underinflated tires can cut fuel economy by up to 3 percent, according to the Department of Energy, and a dirty air filter or overdue oil change can shave off several more percentage points. Combining errands into a single trip and avoiding aggressive acceleration on highways are among the few free changes drivers can make immediately.

Drivers thinking about a switch to an electric vehicle can get a rough sense of potential savings through the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Cost Calculator at afdc.energy.gov, which compares fuel and ownership costs for gas-powered cars, EVs and hybrids based on a driver’s typical mileage and local fuel or electricity prices. Public charging access still varies enormously by state. California has the most public charging stations in the country at more than 21,000, but Vermont actually offers the best access per resident, with one public charger for roughly every 1,128 people, compared with one for every 14,293 residents in Louisiana, the worst-served state in the country by that measure.

What Happens Next

AAA has not forecast when prices might stabilize, and the answer depends heavily on developments around the Strait of Hormuz. Crude oil remained in the $80-a-barrel range through most of August, well above the $70 level that pushed prices down earlier in the month. If tanker traffic through the strait faces further disruption, drivers should expect the national average to keep testing new highs for the year. If shipping risk eases, the pattern of the past three weeks suggests prices could fall back toward $4.00 just as quickly as they climbed.

Drivers planning a Labor Day trip in the coming weeks should watch the daily AAA average closely rather than assuming today’s price will hold. The three-week swing between $4.00 and $4.10 shows how quickly a single week of headlines out of the Middle East can move the number at the pump, and a driver filling up for a long weekend road trip in early September could pay meaningfully more or less than someone filling the same tank today, depending on how the standoff around the strait develops between now and then.

Sources:

• AAA Fuel Prices, August 2026 News Archive
• Choose Energy, Gas Prices by State: August 2026
• World Bank, Strait of Hormuz Disruption Sends Oil Prices Surging