The average price of diesel fuel in the United States reached $6.31 per gallon on Wednesday, a record high, according to AAA data cited by public radio program Here and Now. The milestone follows a separate record set earlier in the week, when the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported the national average on-highway diesel price at $6.285 per gallon for the week of September 14, up more than 31 cents from the prior week.
Tik Root, a senior staff writer at the environmental news outlet Grist, told Here and Now host Robin Young that soaring diesel prices since February have cost U.S. consumers an additional $46 billion, or roughly $350 per household. Most Americans pay for diesel indirectly, since the vast majority of the world's shipping, from long-haul trucking to container ships, runs on the fuel.
Higher diesel costs for trucking and marine shipping translate into higher prices for groceries, household goods and countless other retail products once those costs work through the supply chain. Low distillate inventories have contributed to the price pressure, an effect that tends to intensify each fall and winter as seasonal distillate production eases while heating and diesel demand rises. Diesel prices have climbed sequentially for much of the third quarter, squeezing margins for trucking companies already contending with rising driver costs.
Source: WBUR - https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2026/09/16/diesel-prices