Delaware gas tax
State fuel excise · tax year 2026 · federal tax excluded
On a 20-gallon fill
$4.60
Over 500 gallons
$115
Per gallon
23.0¢
state only
Rate rank
34
1 is the highest
What Delaware charges at the pump
- Here is what Delaware takes at the pump. Twenty gallons carries $4.60 of state fuel tax. Five hundred gallons over a year carries $115. It is built into the posted price, so nobody ever sees it itemized, and the state ranks 34 nationally on the rate.
- Diesel is not punished in Delaware. A twenty-gallon diesel fill carries $4.40 of state tax against $4.60 on ordinary fuel — the same or less. Most states go the other way and charge diesel more, so this is worth knowing if you drive one.
- Delaware keeps it simple. There are no separate inspection or environmental charges reported on top of the fuel tax here, so the main rate is the whole of what the state adds to a gallon.
- State fuel excise in Delaware amounts to $4.60 per twenty-gallon fill and $115 per five hundred gallons, with a rate ranking 34 nationally. ⚠️ The federal component is excluded. Unlike sales tax, fuel excise is embedded in the posted price rather than added at the register, which is why it is among the least visible taxes most households pay routinely.
- Delaware taxes diesel at or below its gasoline rate: $4.40 per twenty gallons against $4.60. ⚠️ This is the minority arrangement nationally — most states levy a premium on diesel to recover the heavier road wear associated with the vehicles that burn it — so Delaware's structure is a genuine cost difference for freight rather than a rounding artifact.
- Delaware reports no additional motor fuel levies apart from its principal excise, so the headline rate represents the state's full per-gallon charge. ⚠️ That makes its position in a national rate table more directly comparable than that of states which levy separately-reported inspection or environmental charges alongside the main rate.
Your year of fuel tax
A $75,000 salary
| State fuel taxper gallon | 23¢ |
|---|---|
| Fuel tax, year | $144 |
| You must earn | $225 |
| Hours of work | 6.2 hr |
State excise only. Federal fuel tax and any local levy are not included.
Tax in a tank
A $75,000 salary
| State rate | 23¢ a gallon |
|---|---|
| Tank costs | $44.80 |
| Fifty tanks a year | $161.00 |
State excise only. The federal fuel tax and any local levy are on top of this.
Gasoline, diesel, and the charges reported separately
Per-gallon rates are shown as Delaware publishes them, to a tenth of a cent. The money columns are what those rates come to on a 20-gallon fill and across 500 gallons. Federal tax is charged on top of all of it and is not included.
| Fuel | Per gallon | On a fill | Over a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline | 23.0¢ | $4.60 | $115 |
| Diesel | 22.0¢ | $4.40 | $110 |
What this page cannot tell you
- ⚠️ Federal fuel tax is charged on top of all this and is not included above. It is the same everywhere in the country.
- The tank and the year here are round reference amounts, not a guess at your driving. Your own total scales directly with the gallons you actually buy in Delaware.
- And some places add local fuel taxes of their own on top of the state's. Those are not counted here.
- ⚠️ Federal motor fuel excise applies in addition to every figure on this page and is deliberately excluded, being uniform nationally. Including it would raise each state's figure by the same amount and compress the differences this page exists to show.
- Quantities are reference points rather than estimates of consumption: liability is strictly proportional to gallons purchased, so any household's figure is this one scaled by its own volume. ⚠️ Fuel purchased outside Delaware is taxed by the state where it is bought, which is why the figures describe purchases rather than mileage.
- Local option fuel taxes exist in a number of states and are excluded from these figures, which cover the state levy only. Where a county or city in Delaware imposes its own charge, the true per-gallon burden at that address exceeds what this page reports.
Questions people ask
Why is there no tax line on my fuel receipt?
The tax is collected upstream and per gallon, not at the register. That is why the sign price is the final price, and why a cheaper week does not mean a smaller tax.
How does this compare with other states?
34 of 51 puts it mid-table, where most states sit and where border effects are weakest.
Is diesel taxed the same as gasoline?
Different rate entirely — lower than gasoline here. The split is deliberate and rests on which vehicles do most damage to the road surface.
Why does motor fuel excise not appear as a separate charge?
Motor fuel excise is levied per gallon at the distributor or terminal, not at retail, so it is embedded in the pump price and not separately stated. Because it is volumetric rather than ad valorem, liability per gallon is invariant to the retail price and its real value erodes with inflation absent legislative change.
Where does this state sit in the national distribution?
This state ranks 34 of 51, within the middle third. Cross-border substitution effects are weakest at this position because adjacent-state differentials are typically small relative to travel cost.
How does the diesel rate relate to the gasoline rate here?
Diesel is taxed at a rate set independently of gasoline and is lower in this state. The differential is generally justified by road-wear attribution to heavy vehicles rather than by fuel characteristics, and several states index the two grades differently.