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- Average nationwide gas prices will dip below $3 per gallon this year, GasBuddy projects (nbcnews.com)
Drivers, Rejoice! Gas Prices Poised to Dip Below $3 for First Time Since 2020
Good news for your wallet at the pump! After years of fluctuating prices, the annual average cost of gasoline is projected to fall below $3 a gallon in 2026, according to a new report from the price-tracking gurus at GasBuddy.
This marks the first time since 2020 that we’ll see such a welcome sight. GasBuddy’s crystal ball gazes upon an average of $2.97 per gallon for the year, a cool 13 cents less than the projected national average for 2025, which stands at $3.10.
“The world has spent years recovering from the economic whiplash of the pandemic and the shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the situation has been improving quietly since 2022,” stated Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis. He and his team calculated these averages by crunching monthly price ranges and then averaging those out over the entire year, with the full breakdown found in their 2026 fuel price outlook report.
The last time we enjoyed such low annual gas prices was in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic kept many Americans working from home and schools largely virtual. Back then, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an average of $2.17 per gallon for unleaded gas nationwide.
Even better, GasBuddy anticipates U.S. households will spend less on gas overall this year compared to the one that just wrapped up. The annual projection sits at $2,083, a significant drop from the 2022 average household gas price of $2,715.
“It’s not a return to ultra-cheap fuel, but for the first time in a long time, the wind is clearly behind drivers’ backs,” De Haan explained. “If the market avoids major surprises, sustained averages below $3 per gallon could become commonplace in the year ahead.”
As of Tuesday, the national average was already a promising $2.79 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s real-time tracker, actually slightly under their January projection.
However, for those driving diesel, the news isn’t quite as sweet. Nationwide diesel prices are expected to remain above the $3 per gallon mark this year, with GasBuddy projecting an average of $3.55, only a slight dip from last year’s $3.62 per gallon average.
While the overall trend is downward, GasBuddy cautions that we’ll still see some price fluctuations throughout the year. These ups and downs will be “tied to seasonal demand, refinery maintenance, hurricane season and ongoing geopolitical risks,” as noted in their release.
One such geopolitical factor that could play a role is the recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela, a country with massive crude oil reserves. Following the capture and transport of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife to the U.S. for trial, President Donald Trump indicated that American oil companies would invest billions in rebuilding Venezuela’s struggling oil infrastructure to access those reserves.
However, don’t expect immediate changes at the pump due to these events. “A lot of Americans may think there’s going to be some sort of overnight or even weekly or monthly improvement in Venezuela’s oil output, but this is really a clock that’s going to tick much slower,” De Haan told NBC News.
He also reminded us that “gas prices almost always start going up in the spring. What’s happening in Venezuela is not going to stop that seasonal trend.”
So, while we can look forward to some lighter spending at the gas station in the long run, remember to factor in those usual seasonal price hikes in the coming months.