Gasoline prices across the U.S. have fallen sharply, with the White House announcing that 43 states have average pump prices below $3 per gallon, marking one of the broadest stretches of low fuel costs in recent years.
"Gas prices continue to plummet nationwide," the White House wrote Monday morning on X. "Now FORTY-THREE U.S. states feature average gas prices under $3/gallon!"
The White House post featured a nearly fully red U.S. state map from AAA data — with just high-gas-price states Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington shaded gray. Of those states, only Alaska and Nevada are run by a Republican governor.
The White House post comes less than a day after Newsmax reported on President Donald Trump's hailing of lower gas prices as helping achieve promised affordability in his first year of his second administration.
"Now we are breaking $1.99 a gallon," Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social, citing a figure that might be seen only in states like Oklahoma, which has the nation's lowest average gas prices today, according to AAA.
Accompanying Trump's post is a photo of July 21, 2022, gas prices in Las Vegas, which lies in the state that Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo was sworn into in January 2023.
The image shows Las Vegas gas at $5.24 a gallon. Lombardo's state now has an average price of $3.35.
That is not only drastically lower than when the state was run by Democrat Gov. Steve Sisolak, but it also is well below the averages of the Democrat-led states on the West Coast.
According to real-time data, the national average for regular gasoline stands around $2.79 per gallon — the lowest national average since 2021 — offering significant relief to American drivers at the start of 2026.
Daily price tracking shows widespread sub-$3 averages across Central and Southern states, while only a handful of coastal and high-tax states remain above that threshold.
The decline in fuel costs aligns with broader forecasts from industry analysts. A GasBuddy outlook projects the annual average price of gasoline for 2026 could drop to $2.97 per gallon, marking the fourth consecutive year of lower pump prices nationwide.
Households could see total gasoline expenditures fall to levels not seen since the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recent price movement follows industry projections that gas prices will continue their downward trend through 2026, with a temporary spring uptick to the low $3.20 range before falling again later in the year.
Diesel prices are also expected to ease, though they remain higher than regular gasoline.
Analysts attribute the broad price drop to a combination of factors, including the unwinding of post-pandemic market distortions, higher refining output, and weaker seasonal demand as winter progresses.
Global oil market dynamics — including output decisions by major producers — have also weighed on crude benchmarks that feed into pump prices.
However, regional disparities remain pronounced. Gulf Coast and many Southern states have the lowest costs, while states with higher fuel taxes and stricter regulatory requirements — such as California, Hawaii, and Washington — still see average prices well above $4 per gallon.
For political observers, the drop in gasoline prices arrives at a consequential juncture, with Democrats emphasizing "affordability" as a central theme in upcoming elections and the Trump administration using the trend to counter that narrative with tangible economic metrics at the pump.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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