Transportation Costs by State 2026
Gas prices, commute time and the auto insurance environment for all 50 US states, sourced from AAA Gas Prices and Census ACS commute data. There is no composite transportation index here, because the federal price series does not publish one.
Cheapest 10 states for transportation
Where transportation costs least
| Rank | State | Regular gas $/gal | Mean commute (min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | $2.95 | 25 |
| 2 | Arkansas | $3.00 | 22 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | $3.00 | 22 |
| 4 | Alabama | $3.05 | 25 |
| 5 | Kansas | $3.05 | 19 |
| 6 | Louisiana | $3.05 | 26 |
| 7 | Missouri | $3.05 | 23 |
| 8 | Texas | $3.05 | 26 |
| 9 | Georgia | $3.10 | 28 |
| 10 | South Carolina | $3.10 | 25 |
Most expensive 10 states for transportation
Where transportation costs most
| Rank | State | Regular gas $/gal | Mean commute (min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $4.85 | 30 |
| 2 | Hawaii | $4.75 | 28 |
| 3 | Washington | $4.30 | 28 |
| 4 | Nevada | $4.10 | 24 |
| 5 | Oregon | $3.95 | 24 |
| 6 | Alaska | $3.85 | 19 |
| 7 | Illinois | $3.65 | 29 |
| 8 | Utah | $3.55 | 22 |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | $3.55 | 26 |
| 10 | Arizona | $3.55 | 26 |
This page carries no transportation price index. The federal price-parity series used elsewhere on this site, BEA Regional Price Parities by State, does not publish one: transport goods fall inside its goods parity and transport services inside its other-services parity, and BEA does not break either out. The two tables are ordered by pump price. Sources: AAA Gas Prices (regular unleaded by state, sampled May 2026), Census ACS 5-year mean commute time.
What this page covers
Gas, maintenance, transit.
Transport spending covers gasoline, vehicle servicing, and transit fares where applicable, and for most households it is one of the larger line items after housing. This page ranks the one transport price with a public state-level source of its own, the AAA regular-unleaded pump price, and pairs it with commute time and the auto-insurance environment rather than blending them into a single index.
What it does NOT cover: vehicle purchase price (varies more by manufacturer than by state), auto insurance premiums (separately priced), commute time as a cost, parking, vehicle registration fees and state-specific fuel taxes (already priced into the per-gallon figure at the pump).
For full transportation-cost accounting, layer auto insurance premiums (Florida, Louisiana and Michigan are typically the most expensive; Maine, Idaho and Vermont the cheapest) and registration fees (highest in Oregon at ~$112 and Florida at $225 for two years) on top of the pump-price ranking.
Frequently Asked