The average U.S. price of on-highway diesel rose 7.6 cents to $6.352 a gallon in the week of October 26, its second straight weekly increase, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday, October 27. Regular gasoline moved the other way, slipping 1.5 cents to $4.269 a gallon. For the Punjabi owner-operators and fleet drivers who form a large share of America's long-haul trucking workforce, the weekly EIA benchmark is not an abstract statistic — it is the index to which most fuel surcharges are tied, so a second consecutive rise flows directly into what carriers can charge and what independent drivers keep after a load is delivered.
Source: SourceFirst News / EIA
The regional split: Midwest jumps, Rockies set a record, West Coast eases
Diesel rose in four of the EIA's five regions. The Midwest recorded the largest regional gain, up 12.8 cents to $6.480 a gallon, and within the East Coast region the Lower Atlantic states posted the biggest increase of any area the agency lists for diesel, up 15 cents to $5.890. The Rocky Mountain region — Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Idaho — rose 9.9 cents to $6.521 a gallon, the highest mark ever recorded for that region, and $2.83 a gallon above a year ago, according to Capital Press's reading of the EIA update.
The West Coast was the exception. Diesel there fell 6.5 cents to $7.329 a gallon, and California averaged $8.155, down 8.7 cents from the previous week but still the most expensive diesel in the continental reporting and $3.22 above the same point in 2025. California's record of $8.25 a gallon was set in the week of September 21. The East Coast averaged $6.079 (up 9.5 cents) and the Gulf Coast remained the cheapest region at $5.951 (up 4.8 cents). AAA's separate daily reading also put the national diesel average at $6.35 on October 26, with Washington state second-highest at $7.29 in AAA's table.
How prices got here: a record in September, a slide, and now two weeks back up
The EIA's weekly history shows diesel peaking at $6.529 a gallon in the week of September 21 — the record for the series — then sliding through mid-October to $6.179 in the week of October 12, before turning up again to $6.276 in the week of October 19 and now $6.352. Gasoline has done the opposite, falling every week since it averaged $4.478 on September 21: it was $4.331 on October 12 and $4.284 on October 19 before this week's $4.269. Measured against a year ago, diesel is $2.634 a gallon more expensive and gasoline $1.234 more expensive. Transport Topics, reporting the same fuel picture on October 27, put diesel at $6.35 a gallon, about 74% higher than at this time last year.
Why diesel is decoupling from gasoline
Analysts cited in the week's reporting say diesel's strength is a supply story more than a crude-price story. Distillate markets remain exceptionally tight, refiners are being encouraged to maximise diesel output, and shipments through the Strait of Hormuz — a route that carried about a fifth of global oil supplies before the war with Iran — remain disrupted. An American Farm Bureau Federation analysis cited by Capital Press attributes the high prices to tight fuel markets and global supply disruptions, noting that the same shock has pushed fertiliser prices up, hitting farmers twice: once in the field and once in the cost of moving what they grow.
Fuel is a carrier's largest variable cost. A driver filling a 150-gallon tank in California at $8.155 pays about $1,223 for that fill — roughly $483 more than the same fill at the Gulf Coast average of $5.951. Because most contracted freight carries a fuel surcharge indexed to the EIA weekly benchmark, Tuesday's rise lifts surcharge tables for next week, but owner-operators on fixed or poorly indexed rates absorb the increase themselves.
Help announced, and what happens next
The pressure has already produced a federal response for one sector: in an October 20 statement, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall welcomed an announced $8 billion in relief for farmers struggling with high diesel prices, to be delivered by building on the Farmer Bridge Assistance program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. No equivalent diesel relief program for trucking was announced in the releases reviewed for this report.
GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan, cited in the week's reporting, said a regional refinery issue drove a fresh gasoline spike across the Great Lakes states — Ohio gasoline rose 33.1 cents to $4.380 and Chicago 19.2 cents to $4.897 — and that the problem was beginning to ease. De Haan said the national averages were likely to stay above $4 a gallon for gasoline and above $6 for diesel heading into the U.S. election, with West Texas Intermediate crude a little over $102 a barrel and Brent close to $115 in Sunday trading. The EIA's next weekly price update is due November 3, the same day as the midterm elections, and the agency's monthly outlook has previously projected diesel easing toward an average of about $4.50 a gallon in 2027 if Middle East flows recover — a forecast, not a promise, that carriers will be watching against every weekly print until then.