Data5 min read · Updated 2025
Gas Tax by State (2025)
Every gallon of gasoline you buy includes a federal excise tax of 18.4¢— unchanged since 1993 — plus your state's own tax on top. Here's the full picture for all 50 states.
How Gas Taxes Work
Gas taxes are excise taxes — charged per gallon, not as a percentage of price. This means when crude oil prices fall and gas gets cheaper, your tax burden stays exactly the same. When prices rise, taxes become a smaller percentage of your bill — but the cents never change.
The federal 18.4¢/gallon has been frozen since the Clinton administration. Congress has repeatedly considered raising or indexing it to inflation, but no increase has passed in 30+ years. In real purchasing power, it's worth less than a third of what it was in 1993.
State taxes vary wildly. Pennsylvania (77.9¢) charges over 8× Alaska (8.95¢). Most states use the money for highway and bridge maintenance. A few (California, Washington) also layer on carbon pricing programs — cap-and-trade and low-carbon fuel standards — that add another 50–80¢ on top of the base excise tax and aren't captured in the table below.
Note: California drivers pay approximately $1.00+ above national average in total regulatory costs once all fees are included — see our California gas prices page for the full breakdown.
Why Pennsylvania and California Tax So Much
Pennsylvania's 77.9¢ is the nation's highest because the state funds almost all road maintenance exclusively through gas taxes and turnpike tolls. Pennsylvania has more state-owned highway bridges than any other state (over 25,000), and years of deferred maintenance created a massive funding gap.
California taxes less at the excise level (68.1¢) but stacks on additional costs that push real pump prices higher. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) administers a cap-and-trade program that costs refiners approximately 15–25¢/gallon, plus the Low Carbon Fuel Standard adds another 40–65¢. These costs are passed through to consumers but aren't classified as "taxes" in standard tables.
Alaska's 8.95¢ is the nation's lowest — a deliberate policy in a state that produces significant oil revenue and has historically subsidized residents rather than taxing them. (Alaska also sends annual dividend checks to residents from oil royalties.)
How to Use This Data
If you drive across state lines regularly, the tax differential is real money. Filling up in New Hampshire (22.2¢) vs. Massachusetts (24¢) on a 15-gallon fill is trivial. But living in Pennsylvania (77.9¢) and making a regular run to Delaware (23¢) saves over $8 per fill-up on a 15-gallon tank.
The total tax column is the number that actually hits your wallet. When gas is $3.50 nationally, you're paying 51¢ (15%) in federal + average state taxes. In Pennsylvania, that jumps to 96.3¢/gallon — over 27% of a $3.50 fill-up.