Statewide average updated daily • Source: AAA
Louisiana is one of the cheapest states for gasoline in the entire country, consistently ranking in the bottom five for average prices. This is largely a function of geography — Louisiana sits at the heart of American oil refining, with the Mississippi River corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans home to one of the densest concentrations of petrochemical and refining infrastructure anywhere in the world. When refineries are essentially in your backyard, fuel costs less to get to your local gas station than almost anywhere else in America.
Louisiana’s state gas tax is just 20 cents per gallon, among the lowest in the country. Combined with the federal rate of 18.4 cents, the total tax burden is just 38.4 cents per gallon — one of the lowest combined rates nationally alongside Texas and Missouri.
The geographic advantage is equally significant. The stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans — known as Cancer Alley in environmental discussions but also as the backbone of American petrochemical production — contains dozens of refineries and chemical plants capable of processing enormous volumes of crude oil into finished fuels. Louisiana also sits at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico, giving it direct access to offshore oil production that feeds its refineries.
The short supply chain from refinery to retail station in Louisiana means transportation costs are minimal, and the competitive wholesale market driven by abundant local refining capacity keeps wholesale prices low for Louisiana retailers.
Did you know? The stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans contains approximately 150 petrochemical plants and refineries — one of the largest concentrations of refining and chemical manufacturing capacity anywhere in the world. Louisiana produces more crude oil from offshore Gulf of Mexico waters than any other state-adjacent area, with thousands of offshore platforms feeding oil directly to onshore refineries via underwater pipelines. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 demonstrated Louisiana’s outsized importance to national fuel supply — when Gulf Coast refining capacity went offline, gas prices spiked across the entire country within days.
Compare today’s average in Louisiana with nearby states to understand regional price differences.
Learn more about what drives gas prices across the United States.
Crude oil prices are the biggest driver of what you pay at the pump. For U.S. and global crude oil production data updated from EIA figures, see Oil Production Live.