Hundreds of trucks lined up at the Pilot Travel Center off I-20 and Bouldercrest Road in Southeast Atlanta this week as diesel prices in Georgia climbed to $6.34 a gallon, a price that drivers say is starting to make the math of hauling freight no longer add up. One driver, Catherine Buckner, said her fuel bill for a single fill-up topped $1,000 as she waited in line with dozens of other truckers just to top off her tank.
The statewide average sits just below the nearly $6.36 record Georgia set Sept. 19, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. The Atlanta-area average is even higher, at $6.38 a gallon, which the station reports is nearly $2.81 more than drivers paid a year ago. As Atlanta News First reported, Georgia's diesel price on this date in 2025 was just $3.55 a gallon — meaning the cost per gallon has nearly doubled in a single year.
Nationally, the picture gets murkier depending on which tracker you check. Atlanta News First reported diesel hit a record $6.51 a gallon nationwide, according to AAA, while Fox 5 Atlanta separately cited the same $6.51 figure as Monday's national record. Other outlets measured it differently: the fleet-industry publication FleetOwner put AAA's current national average at $6.269 and noted the U.S. Energy Information Administration's on-highway average rose 32 cents to $6.285, while Main Street Daily News separately reported a national record of $6.39. The discrepancies reflect different datasets and measurement dates rather than a single agreed-upon figure, but every version points to the same story: diesel is at or near historic highs.
Truckers Feel the Squeeze at the Pump
For owner-operators like Antonio Castillo, the math has turned brutal. Castillo estimated that one fill-up now costs about $1,250, and he said truck driving simply is not profitable under current conditions, according to Atlanta News First. He warned that people may stop driving altogether if diesel prices keep climbing.
Buckner's company and others in the industry are responding by asking drivers to plan their refueling stops more carefully, according to the same report. The advice includes avoiding certain states entirely and instead refueling where prices run lower, since even a difference of a few cents per gallon adds up fast when a single tank costs over a thousand dollars.
Why Prices Keep Climbing
AAA has attributed the sustained price pressure to high crude oil prices along with global conflict and disruptions to fuel supplies, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Crude oil has been averaging around $100 a barrel amid continued volatility tied to the Strait of Hormuz, according to Main Street Daily News. FleetOwner similarly traced the spike to Strait of Hormuz unrest driving up crude oil and fuel prices, which in turn increases trucking and shipping costs and ripples through the entire supply chain.
Diesel has historically climbed faster than gasoline during energy crises, and WABE points to tighter supply, less flexible demand and diesel's outsized role in global commerce as reasons why. The outlet also noted that the previous nationwide diesel record, near $5.82 a gallon in June 2022, would translate to roughly $6.56 today once adjusted for inflation — meaning today's prices, however they're measured, are still within range of that historic spike rather than dramatically eclipsing it.
Ripple Effects Beyond the Pump
The consequences of sustained high diesel prices extend well past the trucking industry itself. Higher diesel costs can eventually show up in the price of groceries, construction materials and other goods transported by truck, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. WABE notes that fuel accounts for roughly 15% to 30% of the total cost of food, which means sustained diesel spikes tend to work their way onto grocery store shelves over time.
Some businesses have already begun passing costs along to consumers in the form of added fees on online orders and packages, according to WABE. Main Street Daily News similarly reported that rising diesel prices are pushing up transportation costs for everything from food to online shipping orders, hitting Americans directly in the pocketbook.
Back in Georgia, Castillo's warning underscores the stakes for the industry itself: if diesel prices keep rising, high fuel costs could make moving goods unprofitable for many businesses and eventually push some trucks off the road entirely, according to Atlanta News First. For drivers like Buckner and Castillo, waiting in line at the Pilot Travel Center this week, that isn't an abstract economic forecast — it's the price tag staring back at them every time they pull up to the pump.
