The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has done a great job of disrupting just about everything across the globe, and thats nothing to speak of the countless lives its either uprooted or ended in Iran and neighboring countries in the Middle East. Here in the U.S., we thankfully haven’t felt much of a direct impact of the war, but one thing that has changed since the U.S. and Israel decided to go after Iran on February 28 is a stark increase in gas prices.
The average price of a gallon of gas is up in literally every state across the country — some more than others, for sure, but no state has been completely spared. Because of that, we’ve decided to crunch the numbers and look at the five states that have been hit the hardest by an increase in gas prices (surprise: they all voted for President Trump election in 2024).
We’re also going to look at which states have seen the lowest increases in gas prices and take a look at where average prices are in the U.S. as a whole. I’ll say this: it’s not pretty, and it’s probably not getting better anytime soon. Qatar just warned that all Gulf oil production could stop within days, and we could soon see the price of a barrel of oil cross $150, according to the BBC.
States with the highest increases
The states listed below have had to deal with the highest price-per-gallon of regular increases since February 27, the day before the war, according to AAA. Fair warning, there was a tiny bit of rounding involved, so if a number is slightly off, don’t freak the hell out. You can’t pay someone a fraction of a penny.
- Indiana: +45 cents (+16%) — $2.83 > $3.28
- Ohio: +45 cents (+15.98%) — $2.80 > $3.25
- Florida: +44 cents (+15.1%) — $2.91 > 3.35
- Georgia: +42 cents (+$14.9%) — $2.78 > $3.20
- West Virginia: +42 cents (+14.6%) — 2.84 > 3.26
I couldn’t tell you exactly why these states specifically have seen such large increases, but an educated guess would be that they had very low gas prices to start, so when the price of fuel started rising, they were also going to feel it first and hardest. All of these states are well clear of the U.S. national increase average of 11.4% and 32 cents, so it remains to be seen if these guys are going to level off or if their prices will continue to increase at this pace.
States with the lowest increases
As I mentioned, there’s not a single state that wasn’t impacted by rising gas prices over the past week. However, some of them got off far easier than others. One, in particular, barely saw an increase.
Here are the five states that have seen the lowest price increase since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran started:
- Vermont: +19 cents (+6.6%) — $3.01 > $3.21
- Alaska: +19 cents (+5.3%) — $3.59 > $3.78
- Oregon: +17 cents (+4.3%) — $3.92 > $4.09
- Washington: +14 cents (+3.2%) — $4.36 > $4.50
- Hawaii: +5 cents (+1.1%) — $4.40 > $4.45
These states sort of worked like the inverse of the previous five. On the whole, they had higher starting gas prices (or, like in Alaska and Hawaii’s case, they were isolated from the Lower-48), so they were less susceptible to large swings in prices. Each of their increases fell well below the U.S. national increase average of 11.4% and 32 cents. We shall see how that holds up.
The U.S. as a whole
Overall, the U.S. has seen the average price of a gallon of regular gas go from $2.98 on February 27 (the day before the war officially started) to $3.32, according to AAA. That works out to be 34 cents more than it was just a week ago — an 11.4 % increase.
AAA
A change like that is something drivers will definitely feel at the pump. Say you’ve got a 17 gallon gas tank. Well, you’re now paying nearly $6 extra every single time you fill up. It might not sound like much, but it can make a difference over a long period of time, believe you me, especially when the cost of literally everything is going up.
It’s a similar story when you look at mid-grade, premium and diesel as well. Mid-grade gas went from 3.50 per gallon a week ago to $3.82 — a 32 cent increase. Premium has gone from $3.86 on average, to just about $4.18 — an identical 32 cent increase.
Diesel is the real killer, though. Just a week ago, a gallon would cost $3.76, on average. Now, it’s $4.33. That’s a whopping 57 cent (roughly 15.25%) jump. That’s an issue that extends far beyond VW TDI and heavy duty truck owners, too. Think about semi-truck shipping. Each of those things can hold up to 300 gallons of diesel in some cases, and that works out to over $170 in extra fuel costs every time a driver fills up. You best believe that cost is getting passed onto the consumer.
