U.S. gas price before each national Election Day, 1976-2026

What this dataset measures

Built to check The Washington Post's November 2, 2026 report that gas prices were set to be the highest for any Election Day in U.S. history. The national average answers the national claim; the state table shows how much state taxes explain of the differences between states, with Washington as the main example.

Geography

United States, California, Washington, Colorado, Ohio, New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas

Unit of observation

Election year (national table); area (state table)

Update cadence

Every two years, after each national Election Day

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Curated data tables

U.S. gas price before each national Election Day, 1976-2026

One row per national election. Prices are U.S. averages for regular gasoline, all taxes included.

Unit of observation: Election year

election-eve-gas.csv text/csv · 1.7 KB (1,768 bytes)

All 26 rows 10 columns Download the file

All 26 rows

year year	election_date	price_date	price_source	nominal_usd_per_gal dollars per gallon	cpi_u_nsa index, 1982-84=100	cpi_basis	real_sep2026_usd_per_gal September 2026 dollars per gallon	avg_hourly_earnings_prod_nonsup dollars per hour	minutes_of_work_per_gallon minutes
1976	1976-11-02	1976 Q4 avg	BLS	0.628	58.033	Q4 avg	3.65	—	—
1978	1978-11-07	1978 Q4 avg	BLS	0.697	67.4	Q4 avg	3.48	—	—
1980	1980-11-04	1980 Q4 avg	BLS	1.253	85.533	Q4 avg	4.94	—	—
1982	1982-11-02	1982 Q4 avg	BLS	1.279	97.933	Q4 avg	4.40	—	—
1984	1984-11-06	1984 Q4 avg	BLS	1.203	105.3	Q4 avg	3.85	—	—
1986	1986-11-04	1986 Q4 avg	BLS	0.825	110.4	Q4 avg	2.52	—	—
1988	1988-11-08	1988 Q4 avg	BLS	0.945	120.333	Q4 avg	2.65	—	—
1990	1990-11-06	1990-11-05	EIA	1.334	132.7	Sep	3.39	10.27	7.8
1992	1992-11-03	1992-11-02	EIA	1.120	141.3	Sep	2.67	10.83	6.2
1994	1994-11-08	1994-11-07	EIA	1.123	149.4	Sep	2.53	11.39	5.9
1996	1996-11-05	1996-11-04	EIA	1.223	157.8	Sep	2.61	12.13	6
1998	1998-11-03	1998-11-02	EIA	1.010	163.6	Sep	2.08	13.11	4.6
2000	2000-11-07	2000-11-06	EIA	1.526	173.7	Sep	2.96	14.13	6.5
2002	2002-11-05	2002-11-04	EIA	1.448	181	Sep	2.70	15.05	5.8
2004	2004-11-02	2004-11-01	EIA	2.034	189.9	Sep	3.61	15.78	7.7
2006	2006-11-07	2006-11-06	EIA	2.200	202.9	Sep	3.65	16.87	7.8
2008	2008-11-04	2008-11-03	EIA	2.400	218.783	Sep	3.70	18.2	7.9
2010	2010-11-02	2010-11-01	EIA	2.806	218.439	Sep	4.33	19.11	8.8
2012	2012-11-06	2012-11-05	EIA	3.492	231.407	Sep	5.08	19.79	10.6
2014	2014-11-04	2014-11-03	EIA	2.993	238.031	Sep	4.24	20.66	8.7
2016	2016-11-08	2016-11-07	EIA	2.233	241.428	Sep	3.12	21.62	6.2
2018	2018-11-06	2018-11-05	EIA	2.753	252.439	Sep	3.67	22.86	7.2
2020	2020-11-03	2020-11-02	EIA	2.112	260.28	Sep	2.73	24.82	5.1
2022	2022-11-08	2022-11-07	EIA	3.796	296.808	Sep	4.31	27.87	8.2
2024	2024-11-05	2024-11-04	EIA	3.069	315.301	Sep	3.28	30.39	6.1
2026	2026-11-03	2026-10-26	EIA	4.269	336.94	Sep	4.27	32.6	7.9

10 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
year	integer	Election year.	year	observed
election_date	date	National Election Day.	—	observed
price_date	string	Date of the EIA weekly reading (1990-2026) or the BLS quarter averaged (1976-1988).	—	observed
price_source	string	EIA weekly survey or BLS average price.	—	observed
nominal_usd_per_gal	number	Price in dollars of the day.	dollars per gallon	observed
cpi_u_nsa	number	CPI-U used to adjust the price: September of the election year (1990-2026) or the October-December average (1976-1988).	index, 1982-84=100	observed
cpi_basis	string	Which CPI month or quarter was used.	—	observed
real_sep2026_usd_per_gal	number	Price in September 2026 dollars.	September 2026 dollars per gallon	derived
avg_hourly_earnings_prod_nonsup	number	Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees, September of the election year; blank before 1990.	dollars per hour	observed
minutes_of_work_per_gallon	number	Minutes of average hourly pay needed to buy one gallon; blank before 1990.	minutes	derived

Supporting files

Source snapshots, manifests, quality reports, documentation, and other materials used to produce or review this release.

• analysis-rows.json Derived table · application/json · 16.8 KB (17,190 bytes)

  The rows of every saved analysis, generated by build.js from the two curated tables and the EIA weekly series.

• compute.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 2.9 KB (2,995 bytes)

  Node.js script that builds election-eve-gas.csv from the FRED values it lists.

• build.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 3.3 KB (3,399 bytes)

  Node.js script that builds state-taxes-prices.csv and analysis-rows.json, including the October-average check.

Sources

1. U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Price (weekly), via FRED series GASREGW U.S. average retail price of regular gasoline, including taxes, each Monday, 1990-2026.

   Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; EIA asks to be cited.

   Reliability: Government. EIA samples about 900 retail outlets at 8 a.m. each Monday; prices include all taxes. FRED republishes the series unchanged.

2. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update Weekly regular gasoline prices for the U.S., California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Texas and Washington for October 26, 2026, and the share of the August 2026 pump price from crude oil, refining, distribution and taxes.

   Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; EIA asks to be cited.

   Reliability: Government. The same EIA weekly survey as the national series, published for nine states and selected cities.

3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price: Gasoline, Unleaded Regular (U.S. city average), via FRED series APU000074714 Average retail price of unleaded regular, October-December, for the election years 1976-1988.

   Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; BLS asks to be cited.

   Reliability: Government. Collected by BLS for the Consumer Price Index; a different survey from EIA's, used only before EIA's weekly series began in 1990.

4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U, All items in U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted, via FRED series CPIAUCNS Consumer price index used to convert each price to September 2026 dollars (September 2026 = 336.940).

   Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; BLS asks to be cited.

   Reliability: Government. The headline national consumer price index. EIA uses the same method (nominal price times the ratio of CPI values) for its own real-price series.

5. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Hourly Earnings of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees, Total Private, via FRED series AHETPI Average hourly pay for September of each election year, 1990-2026, used to express a gallon in minutes of work.

   Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; BLS asks to be cited.

   Reliability: Government. From the BLS monthly payroll survey of businesses; covers production and nonsupervisory workers, about 80% of private employment.

6. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Federal and state motor fuels taxes (fueltaxes.xlsx), sheets July 2026 (revised) and July 2022 (revised) Federal gasoline tax (18.4 cents) and each state's gasoline excise tax plus other statewide taxes and fees, as of July 1, 2026 and July 1, 2022.

   Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; EIA asks to be cited.

   Reliability: Government. Compiled by EIA twice a year from state statutes and agencies. Excludes county and local taxes and taxes based on gross receipts.

7. The Washington Post on X The claim checked: the Post's post of November 2, 2026 linking its story on Election Day gas prices.

   Retrieved November 2, 2026. Quoted for criticism and commentary. Quote only.

   Reliability: News report. The newspaper's official account. The post does not name its price source; the story behind it is paywalled.

Limitations and reproducibility

Reproducible from public sources: Every input is a published EIA, BLS or FRED value listed in the tables. Real price = nominal price x (336.940 / CPI-U for the election year). Minutes of work = nominal price / average hourly earnings x 60. compute.js and build.js reproduce both tables and every saved analysis from the FRED and EIA downloads.

• The U.S. average for 1990-2026 is EIA's weekly survey of about 900 stations on the Monday before Election Day; for 2026 it is October 26, the last reading published before Election Day (EIA's November 2 reading is released November 3). For 1976-1988 it is the BLS average price of unleaded regular for October-December, a different survey, so those years are approximate.
• Inflation adjustment uses the CPI-U (all items, not seasonally adjusted) for September of each election year, the latest month published for 2026; for 1976-1988 it uses the October-December average to match the price. A different month or index changes the real values by a few cents but not the ranking at the top (see the October-average check).
• Average hourly earnings are for production and nonsupervisory workers in private industry (BLS), about four in five private workers; they start in this table in 1990. Minutes of work ignore taxes on pay and changes in how far a gallon goes.
• State taxes and fees are EIA's state excise taxes and statewide fees as of July 1, 2026 (and July 1, 2022). They leave out local taxes, some sales taxes, and the cost of state carbon and clean-fuel programs, such as Washington's Climate Commitment Act and California's cap-and-trade and Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The U.S. average state tax is EIA's simple average of the states, not weighted by gallons sold.
• EIA publishes weekly prices for only nine states, so the state table covers those nine and the U.S. average.