Extra Diesel Cost per Household Since Feb 28, 2026 · Washington

## What this measures

The extra amount spent on on-highway diesel per household in Washington since February 28, 2026, the day the Iran war began, compared with paying the last pre-war price. A running total in dollars per household, updated weekly. A Palanor calculation.

## Why it matters

Fuel prices jumped after the war began, and the same price rise costs more where people drive farther and burn more fuel. Turning the price change into dollars per household shows what the jump has added up to so far, state by state.

## How to read it

Dollars per household, cumulative since February 28, 2026. It rises every week the price stays above its pre-war level and falls back if the price drops below it. Compare states on the same date; differences come from both the regional price and how much fuel each state uses per household.

## How it is built

Gallons per household = the state's annual distillate fuel oil consumed by the transportation sector (SEDS series DFACP), from the EIA State Energy Data System for 2024, times 42 gallons per barrel, divided by the state's households (Census Bureau American Community Survey 1-year estimates for 2024, table B11001). The start price is the last weekly price before February 28, 2026 (the week of February 23). Each week after that adds (that week's price minus the start price) times gallons per household divided by 52.18 weeks. Washington uses the EIA West Coast except California (PADD 5) weekly retail price (eia.retail_diesel.west_coast_ex_california).

## What it does not say

EIA publishes weekly retail prices by petroleum district, not by state, so each state takes its district's price: New England, Central Atlantic and Lower Atlantic within PADD 1; the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain districts; California on its own; and the West Coast except California series for the rest of PADD 5. Consumption is held at its 2024 level and does not fall as prices rise. The consumption figure is all diesel burned in the state's transportation sector, most of it burned by trucks, buses, trains and farm and construction vehicles, not household cars, divided by households. Diesel use is the whole transportation sector divided by households, so it counts the fuel bill of trucking, buses, rail and farm haulage per household: a cost businesses pay first and pass on through prices, not what a household puts in its own tank. Taxes are included in the price, so the measure is the extra cost at the pump, not the extra revenue of any one seller. It is not a household survey: it does not show how individual households cut back or shifted to other fuels.

## Source

Palanor calculation. U.S. Energy Information Administration: Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update (weekly retail prices, series EMD_EPD2D_PTE_<area>_DPG) and State Energy Data System. U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey. All public domain. Recomputed weekly after EIA's Monday price survey.