Chicago Gas Prices

Chicago gas prices this week

The Chicago metro averaged $4.897 per gallon for regular gasoline in the week ending Oct 26, 2026. The metro average rose $0.190 from the previous week, and it is $0.628 above the Illinois regional benchmark of $4.269. Against the national average of $4.269, Chicago is $0.628 more expensive.

Chicago has the highest pump prices of any major U.S. metro outside California. City, county, and state taxes stack on top of a market that already requires a special summer gasoline blend.

What drives prices in Chicago

• Chicago adds a city tax on top of the Illinois state tax and Cook County tax.
• The Chicago area requires a low-volatility reformulated blend from June through September.
• Retail competition is intense, so prices can vary 40 cents within a few miles.

Metro averages smooth out station-level differences, but they are still the right baseline for budgeting. A station a few blocks from a highway ramp can easily charge 20 cents more than one on a secondary road in the same county.

Areas covered by the Chicago average

The metro series includes the core city and the surrounding communities that share its fuel distribution network: Evanston, Oak Park, Cicero, Naperville, Schaumburg, Gary. Prices in outlying counties can run 10 to 25 cents lower or higher depending on local taxes and distance from the nearest terminal.

Commuting cost in Chicago

Chicago commuters often drive into the city from suburbs 20 to 40 miles out, which makes weekly fuel cost sensitive to small price differences near home.

A simple benchmark: a 30-mile round trip at 28 MPG costs about $5.25 per day at the current Chicago average. Over 260 working days that is roughly $1364 per year. Use the commute cost calculator with your real mileage, and the gas mileage calculator if you are not sure what MPG your car actually returns in city traffic.

How to pay less at the pump in Chicago

1. Start with membership warehouses: Costco, Sam's Club, and BJ's typically undercut nearby stations by 10 to 30 cents.
2. Check stations one exit past your usual stop — highway-adjacent stations price for convenience, not for locals.
3. Use a station-level app for the final address; use this page to judge whether the price you see is normal for the metro.
4. Fix the cheap things first: tire pressure, air filter, and removing unused roof racks each return 2 to 6 percent of fuel economy.

How this page is built

The Chicago series is the EIA's published metro retail average, updated weekly and restated in dollars per gallon including taxes. We rebuild this page every week after the survey release and print the survey week at the top so there is no ambiguity about the date. See the methodology and data sources pages for details.