FORT COLLINS, COLORADO — Jonelle Lewis was looking for a reprieve from the Seattle area Gas prices Driven high by Iran war When an app on her phone gave her the answer: Tulalip Preserve north of the city, about a half-hour from her home.
Didn’t hesitate.
“I drove here on purpose just for gas,” Lewis said as she filled up her Chevrolet Suburban at the Tulalip Market this week for $4.84 a gallon (3.8 liters) — about 75 cents less than prices near home. “The gas is ridiculous. But I’ve honestly found, over the years, that this particular gas station is cheaper than a lot around here. Maybe the cheapest.”
Lewis isn’t the only driver who has discovered that some cheaper fuels can be found on Native American reservations.
Especially in California, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma and Washington state — places with dozens of tribal-owned stations, including some in busy travel corridors — tribes exempt from state fuel taxes can sell for much less than nearby competing stations.
Apps like Gas Buddy make finding the cheapest gas easier than ever.
Nationally, gasoline prices have risen by more than $1 since the Iran war began on February 28, reaching an average of $4.15 per gallon, according to To AAA.
Prices were higher, topping $5 during the summer of 2022, but economists believe they will continue Heading up And contribute to inflation in the coming weeks as geopolitical tension continues.
However, deals can be found at many of the approximately 500 tribally owned convenience stores that have gas stations throughout the United States.
Fifty-five in California. At the Chukchansi crossing gas station & Travel hub between Fresno and Yosemite National Park, $5.09 gas was 60 cents less than nearby stations.
New Mexico resident Jimmy Cross usually finds savings on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, where the price of gas hit $3.79 this week.
“I hope we don’t go any higher,” Cross said Thursday.
In eastern New York State, in Cataugus Indian Territory between Buffalo and Erie, Pennsylvania, the cheapest gas price was about $3.65 at more than a half-dozen stations — 50 cents less than in neighboring towns.
How do tribes do this? Two words: tax credits.
Overall, tribes must pay a federal fuel tax of 18.4 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24.3 cents per gallon for diesel, and pass that cost on to drivers. State fuel taxes are a different matter.
For more than a century, U.S. courts have found that states do not have the authority to collect taxes from Native Americans on their lands, said Dan Loerens, an assistant law professor at the University of North Dakota who specializes in Native American law.
“The Supreme Court has consistently held this view and it is one of the most enduring principles in federal Indian law,” Loerens said.
Federally recognized Native American tribes exist in 35 states and state taxes on gasoline range from 9 cents per gallon in Alaska to 71 cents in California.
From there, things get complicated depending on where the fuel tax is imposed — at gas stations, for example, or where distributors buy or sell fuel — and on various agreements between states and tribes.
Court rulings come into effect. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that off-reservation distributors in Kansas may levy a state tax on sales to tribes for on-reservation fuel sales. But in 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that an 1855 treaty between the United States and the Yakama Nation that guaranteed tribal members freedom to travel over the roads with their goods prohibited state fuel taxes on tribal lands in Washington state.
“This is a little different from the principle that Indians are not taxed within Indian country because that particular treaty reserved some reservation rights for Indians as well,” Loerens said.
Gas sales at convenience stores are not as profitable as bringing people inside at the pumps.
Selling snacks adds profit. But tribal businesses are increasingly delivering groceries in what can be “food deserts” far from grocery stores.
“Sometimes these gas stations and convenience stores are the closest and best place to buy affordable food or household supplies,” said Matthew Klass, of Minneapolis-based consultant Klass Robinson QED.
Klass conducts market research and consulting for tribal businesses and tracks 245 tribes nationwide that, as of 2025, operate 496 convenience stores with gas stations.
Oklahoma, California, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan and New York have the highest numbers. Some tribes, including the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, have their own store chains.
Smoke shops, car washes and truck stop amenities also generate revenue. Then there are the casinos: There are 205 tribal-owned gas stations in or near the casinos.
Some tribal casinos are resorts with gas stations. Some tribal gas stations are casinos of a type called “jackinos,” which only have a small number of slot machines.
Tribal-owned businesses are a major source of revenue for Native American reservations. On the Seattle-area Tulalip Reservation, increased gas sales have been reinvested back into the community, helping cover costs for roads, policing, health care, education, housing and other needs, Tanya Burns, CEO of Tulalip Tribes Federal Corporation, said in a statement.
“Like any government, we provide vital services to our people,” Burns said.
“It’s terrible,” Todd Hall of Baden, Okla., said of diesel prices, where he spent about $90 to fill up his truck at a Citizen Potawatomi Nation gas station about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Oklahoma City.
But he added: “It’s cheaper here than anywhere else.”
Hall charged $4.57 per gallon for diesel fuel, and said the price was more than $5 at many area locations.
Mark Foster said he saves about $5 a week buying fuel at the tribal-owned gas station. But he said he’s a loyal customer because the tribe is a good partner to the community.
“I like the way the tribe operates,” he said. “And the price is good too.”
At the Tulalip Market north of Seattle, Jared Blankenship wasn’t complaining about prices, but about having to pay for gas at all.
“Yes, well, my electric car just broke down,” Blankenship said. “So this is bad. This is new. He’s either Costco or looking for somewhere cheap, like Reese’s. And here we are.”
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Lindsey Wasson in Seattle; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Savannah Peters in Edgewood, New Mexico, contributed.