Mountain West states may be most vulnerable to rising fuel prices

Nevada Public Radio | By Yvette Fernandez

Published September 16, 2026 at 1:57 PM PDT

Lawrence Allison puts $175 of diesel in his truck at a gas station in Carlsbad, California on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026.

States across the Mountain West are seeing some of the highest prices in the nation. As of Tuesday, diesel hit an all-time high nationally at $6.26 per gallon, according to AAA. The average national price for a gallon of regular gas was $4.32.

Increasing diesel gas costs can hit the trucking and agriculture industries hard. Both have the potential to pass on those costs to consumers, for instance, at grocery stores, experts say.

Doug Johnson with AAA's Mountain West Group says the long distances between cities and towns across the region complicate the situation, even for regular gas consumers.

"We have more mountains, more geography that makes it more difficult to transport some of that oil, and it has to come by truck," Johnson said.

Still, there are some steps drivers can take to manage fuel costs, like making sure your car is functioning properly.

"If your tires are too flat, there's more friction with the road and you're needlessly wasting gas," Johnson said. "And then get all the excess weight out of your vehicle; make it as light as possible. That's gonna help you save on fuel. And lastly, go the speed limit. It can actually help you save on your fuel economy, up to 15%."

Nevada, Idaho, Utah and Arizona have some of the highest diesel and regular gas prices in the country, according to AAA.

As of Tuesday, prices for regular gas per gallon in the Mountain West were as follows:

Nevada: $5.12
Idaho: $4.82
Utah: $4.78
Arizona: $4.57
New Mexico: $4.44
Wyoming: $4.48
Colorado: $4.30

In the Mountain West, gas was cheapest in Colorado at $4.30 per gallon. California had the most expensive gas in the country at $6.01 per gallon.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.