US diesel prices have passed $6 a gallon for the first time, setting a nominal record while remaining below the previous peak after inflation is taken into account. The national average reached $6.06 a gallon on Friday, according to the American Automobile Association, as disruption to shipping and Russian exports tightened supplies.
The price was 63% higher than a year earlier, when the national average was $3.71 per gallon. It exceeded the previous all-time high of $5.82, set in June 2022. Adjusted for inflation, however, the 2022 price would equal about $6.56 in 2026 dollars.
Diesel has risen 14% from a month ago. In California, the average price climbed to $7.98 on Friday. Daily spending by Americans on gas and diesel combined is running roughly $700 million higher than it was a year ago.
The increase reaches far beyond filling stations. About 75% of US diesel consumption came from the transportation sector in 2025, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Trucking and rail depend heavily on the fuel to move goods around the country, while farming and construction also use diesel extensively.
Inflation figures released Thursday showed sharp increases in transportation and warehousing costs. The Department of Labor said rising diesel costs accounted for more than a third of the increase in producer goods prices in August.
Food prices may face particular pressure. Diesel and other fuel costs account for somewhere between 15% and 30% of the eventual cost of producing and delivering food, according to the Independent Grocers Alliance.
Economists said businesses have largely delayed passing the full rise in diesel costs on to consumers. Thomas Ryan, a senior North American economist at Capital Economics, said higher diesel prices are something that households are going to have to weather at least over the remainder of this year.
Brown University estimates that higher diesel prices have cost US consumers more than $46 billion since the war began.
The rise reflects a series of supply shocks in global energy markets. Fighting between the US and Iran has constricted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. US crude futures topped $100 a barrel this week for the first time in months.
Ukrainian drone attacks have damaged Russian refining infrastructure. Russia has also imposed a diesel export ban that will remain in force through at least the end of September. Russia has historically been one of the world's largest diesel exporters behind the United States.
ING commodities analysts estimated that the combined disruption to Persian Gulf shipping and Russian exports was removing roughly 20% of the diesel that normally moves by sea. The scale and duration of those disruptions will help determine whether the higher costs now appearing in freight, warehousing and producer prices reach consumers more fully.
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