Hundreds of trucks lined up at the Pilot Travel Center off I-20 and Bouldercrest Road in Southeast Atlanta this week as diesel prices in Georgia climbed to $6.34 a gallon, a price that drivers say is starting to make the math of hauling freight no longer add up. One driver, Catherine Buckner, said her fuel bill for a single fill-up topped $1,000 as she waited in line with dozens of other truckers just to top off her tank.
The statewide average sits just below the nearly $6.36 record Georgia set Sept. 19, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. The Atlanta-area average is even higher, at $6.38 a gallon, which the station reports is nearly $2.81 more than drivers paid a year ago. As Atlanta News First reported, Georgia’s diesel price on this date in 2025 was just $3.55 a gallon — meaning the cost per gallon has nearly doubled in a single year.
Nationally, the picture gets murkier depending on which tracker you check. Atlanta News First reported diesel hit a record $6.51 a gallon nationwide, according to AAA, while Fox 5 Atlanta separately cited the same $6.51 figure as Monday’s national record. Other outlets measured it differently: the fleet-industry publication FleetOwner put AAA’s current national average at $6.269 and noted the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s on-highway average rose 32 cents to $6.285, while Main Street Daily News separately reported a national record of $6.39. The discrepancies reflect different datasets and measurement dates rather than a single agreed-upon figure, but every version points to the same story: diesel is at or near historic highs.
Truckers Feel the Squeeze at the Pump
For owner-operators like Antonio Castillo, the math has turned brutal. Castillo estimated that one fill-up now costs about $1,250, and he said truck driving simply is not profitable under current conditions, according to Atlanta News First. He warned that people may stop driving altogether if diesel prices keep climbing…