(The Center Square) – Diesel fuel rose to $5.80 per gallon on average in North Carolina on Monday, setting a record.
The previous high of $5.76 was set in June 2022, the same month inflation hit a 40-year record of 9.1% under the Biden administration. Monday’s price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline was $3.93, 18 cents higher than a week earlier and 42.9% higher than before the United States and Israel began military strikes in Iran.
North Carolina at the beginning of February had statewide averages of $2.69 for unleaded and $3.47 for diesel; and in January, respectively, $2.61 and $3.39. Today’s prices compared to the beginning of the year are 50.6% higher for unleaded and 71.1% higher for diesel.
In an email last week to The Center Square from a regional press secretary of the White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “When Operation Epic Fury is complete, gas prices will plummet back to the multi-year lows American drivers enjoyed before these short-term disruptions. President Trump remains committed to fully unleashing American energy dominance, lowering costs, and putting more money back in the pockets of hardworking American families.”
The United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, and the prices of fuel have climbed since. Global energy infrastructure has been impacted by the action and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Second-term Republican President Donald Trump has said energy costs are a “very small price to pay” in comparison to neutralizing Iran’s threat to America and securing long-term worldwide security. Americans, according to polls, have mixed opinion short of full agreement.
Monday represented Day 38 of Operation Epic Fury. A day before it started, the statewide norm for unleaded was about $2.75.
For context, since the COVID-19 era, the state’s highs are $4.67 for unleaded on June 13, 2022, and had been $5.76 for diesel on June 10, 2022.
The national average for a gallon of unleaded is $4.11, and for a gallon of diesel $5.61.
Combustion engine consumers make up more than 8 million vehicle registrations in the nation’s ninth-largest state.
North Carolina’s electric vehicle charging rate average, according to AAA, is 40.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. The national average is 41.6 cents per kWh. More than 100,000 zero-emission vehicles are registered in the state. At the start of 2025, the state norm was 33.5 cents per kWh and the national was 34.7 cents per kWh.
Twenty-six states have lower average prices for a gallon of unleaded; 30 are lower for diesel; and 20 plus the District of Columbia are lower in electric.
Among the 14 major metro areas, the least expensive average for unleaded gas is in the Goldsboro area at $3.86. The most expensive is in the Wilmington and Durham-Chapel Hill metro areas at $3.96.
Diesel is the most consumer-friendly ($5.55) in the Asheville market.
North Carolina’s 41 cents per gallon tax rate for 2026 is only less than California (61.2), Pennsylvania (57.6), Washington (55.4), Michigan (52.4), New Jersey (49.1), Illinois (48.3) and Maryland (46).
Motor fuel taxes in the state fund the Department of Transportation’s highway and multi-modal projects, accounting for more than half of the state transportation resources. The revenues go into the Highway Fund and the Highway Trust Fund.
