What were average U.S. gasoline prices per gallon by month in 2021 vs 2025?
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Executive summary
A direct month-by-month numeric comparison of average U.S. gasoline prices for 2021 versus 2025 exists in official EIA and Federal Reserve datasets, but the clipped reporting supplied here does not include a full table of every monthly price; the authoritative monthly series are available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and can be downloaded for precise month-level values [1] [2] [3]. Using the supplied sources, the clear story is that 2021 was the year of a sustained rebound from pandemic-era lows into mostly higher prices, while 2025 shows a retreat from the post‑2021 peaks with national averages falling below $3.00 per gallon by late 2025 [4] [5].
1. The data source that answers the question directly: official monthly series
The most reliable place to get exact average gasoline prices by month — the exact answer the query seeks — is the EIA’s monthly retail gasoline price series and its gasoline price tables, which provide month-by-month U.S. averages for “Regular All Formulations” and related series [1] [2] [3]; St. Louis Fed / FRED also republishes the EIA series for easy download and charting [6] [7]. Any authoritative month-to-month comparison should therefore cite those tables directly rather than paraphrased press reporting, and those sources are listed in the supplied reporting [1] [3] [6].
2. What the supplied reporting shows about 2021: a rise from pandemic lows into sustained mid‑year strength
The contextual material supplied makes clear that 2021 was a rebound year for gasoline: multiple datasets referenced trace a recovery from 2020 declines and rising prices through 2021, and the EIA series archived for that year captures month-level increases as demand returned [8] [2]. While the snippets here do not print every monthly figure, the EIA historical files cited contain the monthly numbers needed to state, for example, how January moved to summer peaks in 2021 — the underlying tables (EIA monthly price files) are the precise source for those month figures [1] [2].
3. What the supplied reporting shows about 2025: lower averages and a year-end dip below $3
Reporting from EIA and other aggregators in the provided material documents 2025 as a year in which national averages declined relative to the 2022‑2023 peaks and slipped below the $3.00 mark by late 2025 — EIA noted a U.S. average retail price of $2.98 per gallon on December 1, 2025, and other aggregators and AAA show late‑December/December‑31 averages around $2.84–$2.95 per gallon [4] [9] [5]. Several sources summarize 2025 as being on track to average roughly $3.15 per gallon for the year [5], and trading‑floor indicators and futures data cited by market services show gasoline product prices and futures at multiyear lows late in 2025 [10].
4. How to produce the month‑by‑month table the question asks for (and a note on regional variation)
To produce the exact month‑by‑month table comparing 2021 vs 2025, download the EIA monthly CSV for “U.S. Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices” or use FRED’s GASREGW/APU000074714 series — both supply every monthly average through 2025 and will let a user compute direct month‑to‑month comparisons, percentage changes and year‑over‑year differences [1] [6] [7]. Also note that national averages mask large state and regional differences — Visual Capitalist and AAA maps in the supplied reporting emphasize substantial geographic variation (California and Hawaii well above the national average in 2025) so any month‑by‑month national comparison should be understood as an aggregate, not a uniform picture across the country [11] [9].
5. Bottom line and limits of the supplied reporting
The supplied sources provide the authoritative monthly series needed to answer the question precisely (EIA and FRED), and they document the narrative difference — 2021’s rebound and 2025’s decline culminating in sub‑$3 national averages by December 2025 — but the snippets here do not list each monthly price point to reproduce the full month‑by‑month table in this article [1] [4] [5]. For a verbatim month‑by‑month list, extract the EIA monthly series files referenced [1] [2] [3] or the FRED download [6] and compute the side‑by‑side 2021 vs 2025 monthly values directly.