US Premium Gasoline Retail Price (1994–2026)
The US Premium Gasoline Retail Price is the national average pump price for premium-grade gasoline, published weekly by the EIA since 1994. Read alone it tracks regular gasoline closely; its value is in the spread. The premium-to-regular gap — typically $0.40 to $0.90 — is a small but genuine discretionary-spending signal, since premium is a choice, not a necessity, for most drivers. Premium peaked at $5.762 in June 2022 and sits at $4.81 in mid-2026.
Dataset: US Premium Gasoline Retail Price (1994–2026) · Updated 2026-07-27
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Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) · series EMM_EPMP_PTE_NUS_DPG
Macro Takeaway
The premium-regular spread has widened structurally over the past decade, from roughly $0.25 in the 2000s to $0.70–$0.90 by the 2020s — partly turbocharged-engine adoption raising premium demand, partly retailer margin strategy on a price-inelastic grade. The spread is stickier than the absolute price.
Premium purchases are discretionary for most vehicles, so the grade mix (how much premium is sold relative to regular) is a real-time proxy for consumer willingness to spend on non-essentials — a granular signal buried in an otherwise ordinary price series.
Because premium and regular share the same crude and refining, the spread strips out the oil-price move and isolates the retail and demand dynamics — which is why the spread, not the level, is the informative series here.
Dataset Overview
| Indicator | US Premium Gasoline Retail Price (1994–2026) |
|---|---|
| Geography | United States |
| Frequency | Weekly |
| Period | 1994 – present |
| Variables | date, premium_gasoline_price |
| Format | CSV, Excel (XLSX) |
| Sources | U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) |
| Last updated | — |
Dataset Variables
The CSV and Excel files contain the following columns.
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
date | Date (YYYY-MM-DD) | Reference date of the observation |
premium_gasoline_price | Float | US average retail price of premium all-formulations gasoline, dollars per gallon |
A value of 4.807 means the national average premium pump price was $4.81 per gallon; subtract regular to get the premium spread.
Download the Complete Dataset
The full dataset is available in CSV and Excel formats.
EIA Direct API Access
The underlying data comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration API v2 (route petroleum/pri/gnd, series EMM_EPMP_PTE_NUS_DPG). An EIA API key is free from the EIA developer portal.
Direct CSV Access — Eco3min Structured Dataset
https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/us-gasoline-premium-retail-price.csv
This URL returns the complete, cleaned dataset in CSV format. It can be used directly in pandas, R, curl, or any data tool — no key required.
Using the Dataset in Python
import pandas as pd
url = "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/us-gasoline-premium-retail-price.csv"
df = pd.read_csv(url, parse_dates=["date"])
print(f"Latest: {df['premium_gasoline_price'].iloc[-1]:.3f} USD/gallon")
print(df.tail())
Using the Dataset in R
library(readr) url <- "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/us-gasoline-premium-retail-price.csv" df <- read_csv(url) tail(df) summary(df$premium_gasoline_price)
Both examples load the dataset directly from the URL — no download or API key required.
Methodology
Collected on the same weekly EIA retail survey as regular gasoline, released each Monday afternoon, all taxes included.
This dataset is refreshed daily (Mon–Sat) via automated pull from the EIA API v2; new observations appear with each source release.
Data Quality & Provider Notes
- Release cadence. Weekly, Monday afternoons, alongside regular and midgrade.
- Best used as a spread. The premium-minus-regular gap carries more signal than the absolute level.
- What it includes. Premium all-formulations, all taxes.
- Revisions. Rarely revised.
- Known gaps. None; continuous weekly since November 1994.
Common Pitfalls When Using This Series
- Reading the level instead of the spread. The absolute premium price just mirrors crude; the premium-regular gap is where the information is.
- Ignoring the structural widening. The spread today is far wider than in the 2000s for demand and margin reasons; comparing raw spreads across eras misleads.
- Assuming premium demand is stable. Grade mix shifts with the economy — a discretionary signal, not a constant.
- Treating it as a separate oil market. Premium and regular move together on crude; only their difference is distinct.
Historical Regimes
1994–2004 — Narrow spread. Premium ran ~$0.15–$0.25 above regular, a stable niche.
2005–2014 — Spread begins widening. Turbo adoption and margin strategy pushed the gap toward $0.30–$0.40.
2015–2020 — The gap opens. The premium spread widened to $0.50+ even as absolute prices fell in the shale glut.
2021–2026 — Wide and sticky. Premium hit $5.762 (June 2022) with the spread near $0.80–$0.90 — the widest sustained gap in the series, holding at $4.81 in mid-2026.
Related Macroeconomic Datasets
- US Regular Gasoline Retail Price — the reference grade — subtract to get the premium spread
- US Diesel Retail Price — the freight fuel on the same survey
- US Consumer Sentiment — the discretionary-spending backdrop the premium mix reflects
Macroeconomic Dataset Hub
This dataset is part of the Eco3min macro-financial data repository.
Explore the Eco3min Commodity Data Hub
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Weekly Retail Gasoline and Diesel Prices (series EMM_EPMP_PTE_NUS_DPG)
Dataset Reference
Last updated — 4 August 2026
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