by Katy Grimes, E&E Legal Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As Appearing in the California Globe
The last time gas was above $5 per gallon was in August 2022, during the Biden Administration
AAA reports that average U.S. gas prices rocketed past $4 per gallon Tuesday, reaching their highest level in nearly four years. And in California, we are paying $5.90 per gallon on average, and over $6 per gallon in many places.
Americans have not seen these prices since 2022, during the Biden Administration, when Biden prioritized foreign sources of oil instead of U.S. energy independence, as the Trump administration is. Since January 2025 until the Iran War, Americans were watching gas prices drop. President Donald Trump says the price increases are temporary.
I took these photos of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s gas prices Friday March 27, 2026, and was hilariously savaged on X for my statement:
CBS reports that “Gas prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, jumping more than a dollar per gallon over the last month, data from the auto club shows.
However, California’s highest-in-the-nation gas prices were already up 80 cents per gallon prior to the war with Iran, while the rest of the country was enjoying some of the lowest priced gas in years
