Current diesel price

The price on this page is the US average, so the number at any given pump differs from it for structural reasons. Crude oil is the largest input, routinely around half the cost of a gallon before refining, distribution, taxes and station margin are added; when crude moves, the pump follows over days to weeks, and the pump price vs crude oil page tracks that split live.

Geography does the rest. Federal and state fuel taxes differ by state, refining capacity is concentrated on the Gulf Coast, and California runs its own fuel specification, so the same week's national average conceals a wide spread: the regional pages carry each region's own price and its gap to the US average in cents per gallon.

Season matters too. Fall harvest and winter heating-oil demand pull on the same distillate barrel diesel comes from, so the number tends to firm into the cold months and ease through the spring shoulder, whatever crude is doing.

This week's DOE number page carries the same figure in its role as the fuel-surcharge index most US trucking contracts peg to. For how this week compares with every week since 1994, see the diesel price history chart.

Which way the price is moving

Diesel prices are broadly flat right now: the weekly index has shown no sustained move in either direction for 1 week. Over the four weeks since the week of Oct 5, 2026, the national average is up 9.3 cents a gallon (1.5%).

The call comes from the weekly series itself. It reads as rising or falling when the US average has moved at least 2.5% over four weeks, or at least 0.5% in each of the last two weeks in the same direction, and as flat otherwise. Crude is the usual driver of a sustained move; the pump price vs crude oil page shows how much of the current price is crude and how much is everything added after it.