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What was the average gas price during Donald Trump's presidency from 2017 to 2021?
Executive summary
Using U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) annual figures, average U.S. retail gasoline prices by year during Donald Trump’s presidency were about $2.41 in 2017, $2.75 in 2018, $2.60 in 2019 and (after the 2020 pandemic dip) roughly $2.17 in 2020; the EIA’s series provides the official monthly and annual averages used to compute these figures [1] [2] [3]. Available sources do not mention a single “presidential-term average” calculated by the EIA, but the raw annual and monthly EIA data allow you to compute a term average [3] [4].
1. What the official data show: year-by-year pump prices
The most authoritative public dataset is the EIA retail gasoline price series. The EIA reports U.S. regular retail gasoline averaged $2.41 per gallon in 2017 (the first year of the Trump term) and $2.60 in 2019; EIA monthly and annual files let analysts extract each year’s mean [1] [2] [3]. For 2018 the widely cited annual average was about $2.75 per gallon according to EIA tables [3]. In 2020, pandemic-driven demand collapse pushed annual averages down — EIA weekly and monthly series document the sharp decline in spring 2020 to record-low weekly averages [5] [3].
2. How to compute an “average for the presidency” and why numbers vary
No single EIA table explicitly labels a “2017–2021 Trump presidency average.” To get a term-wide average you must choose a method: (a) simple average of the four full calendar years (2017–2020) that fall fully within his presidency; (b) a weighted average using monthly data across the entire January 2017–January 2021 span; or (c) include the first weeks of 2021 carried by the transition. The EIA provides monthly and weekly retail price files so any of these can be calculated precisely from the source data [3] [5].
3. Context: market drivers that mattered during 2017–2020
EIA commentary emphasizes that crude oil prices, refinery outages, seasonal demand and unexpected shocks drive retail gasoline changes. For example, EIA linked higher 2017 prices to higher crude oil and regional refinery issues after hurricanes; 2019’s lower annual average reflected softer demand late that year [1] [2]. The 2020 collapse in demand from COVID‑19 lockdowns is the dominant factor for that year’s low averages and explains why a multi‑year “presidential average” can swing depending on whether 2020 is included and how it’s weighted [5] [3].
4. Multiple published compilations and why they differ from EIA
Commercial aggregators (Statista, YCharts, AAA, Finder, WalletHub and others) republish or reprocess EIA data and sometimes present slightly different annual averages because they round, adjust for taxes, or use different date spans (calendar-year vs. weekly snapshots) [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]. The EIA remains the primary source cited by these outlets; differences almost always come from methodology rather than contradictory raw measurements [3] [7].
5. What I can’t find in the provided reporting
The supplied results do not include a single authoritative “average gas price for Donald Trump’s presidency (2017–2021)” computed and published by the EIA or another federal body; they instead include annual and weekly EIA series and third‑party summaries you can use to calculate the figure yourself [3] [5] [7]. If you want a precise number for the full term (e.g., Jan 20, 2017–Jan 20, 2021) I can compute that from the EIA monthly or weekly data, but that specific computation is not pre-supplied in your search results [3] [5].
6. Quick recommended next steps to get an exact term average
Download the EIA monthly or weekly retail gasoline price series (the EIA “All Grades All Formulations” and “Regular” files are available) and choose your span: calendar years 2017–2020, or the exact presidential span Jan 20, 2017–Jan 20, 2021. Use a weighted mean by month or week to reflect the differing number of days in each month/week; the EIA files give the needed monthly/weekly values [3] [5]. If you’d like, tell me which span and weighting you want and I will compute the precise per‑gallon average from the EIA data you supplied [3] [5].
Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration price series and EIA year summaries [3] [5] [1] [2]. Other aggregators cited for context on methodology differences [6] [7] [8] [9] [10].