Regular unleaded on Archer Avenue costs $4.25 to $4.45 today. Four weeks ago it was $3.00 to $3.10. That jump is hitting Chicago drivers harder than anyone else.
Most of the spike came fast — roughly $1.25 to $1.35 per gallon in less than four weeks after late February, when the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz closure sent global oil markets into shock. But Archer Avenue drivers face a second squeeze that suburban motorists do not: Chicago’s fuel tax.
On top of the state tax ($0.483 per gallon), the federal tax ($0.184 per gallon), and Cook County’s tax ($0.06 per gallon), Chicago drivers pay an extra $0.08 per gallon — a city vehicle fuel tax that does not exist in the suburbs. Combined, that city tax layer can push the total fuel tax burden in Chicago to $0.85 per gallon, among the highest in the nation.
An Archer Avenue driver filling a 20-gallon tank pays roughly $1.60 to $2.40 more per fill-up than a suburban driver — before the global spike even factors in.
For a household filling a 20-gallon tank weekly, the math is brutal. In January, a fill-up cost roughly $63 to $65. Today it costs $85 to $89. That is $88 to $96 more per month — or $792 to $1,152 over a year.
On February 23, the day before geopolitical tensions escalated, regular unleaded on Archer Avenue cost an estimated $3.00 to $3.10 per gallon.
By March 2 — the week Operation Epic Fury launched — it had jumped to $3.10 to $3.20.
By March 9 — the first full week after the strait closure — it spiked to $3.65 to $3.75.
By March 16, it had climbed to $3.70 to $3.85.
On March 23, prices sat at $4.25 to $4.45 for regular.