What a family in Texas pays for gas, electricity and rent, what borrowing costs, and how clean the air was — each figure exactly as the agency that publishes it, with its date and source. Updated Oct 15, 2026.
Steady: Mortgage: flat at 7.40%.
| Figure | Value | Period | Covers | Against the reading before | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular gas | $3.779 a gallon, regular | Week of Oct 12, 2026 | Texas | Down (▼ 9.5¢ in a week) | U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), weekly retail gasoline prices |
| Home electricity | 15.88¢ a kilowatt-hour, homes | July 2026 | Texas (statewide) | Little changed (▼ 0.06¢ (−0.4%) from June) | U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Electric Power Monthly |
| Two-bedroom rent | $1,807 a month, two bedrooms | FY2027 (Oct 2026 – Sep 2027) | Dallas, TX HUD Metro FMR Area | Down (▼ $124 (−6.4%) from FY2026) | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Fair Market Rents |
| 30-year fixed mortgage | 7.40% 30-year fixed, U.S. | Survey of Oct 15, 2026 | United States | Flat (No change in a week) | Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, via FRED (St. Louis Fed) |
| 15-year fixed mortgage | 6.71% 15-year fixed, U.S. | Survey of Oct 15, 2026 | United States | Little changed (▼ 0.02 pt in a week) | Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, via FRED (St. Louis Fed) |
| New-car loan, 60 months | 7.54% 60-month new car, U.S. banks | August 2026 | United States | Up (▲ 0.40 pt from May 2026) | Federal Reserve G.19 Consumer Credit, via FRED (St. Louis Fed) |
| Air quality | 115 US AQI, the week's worst hour | Oct 5–11, 2026 | Dallas (modelled, not a monitor) | Unhealthy for sensitive groups (▲ 49 from the week before) | Open-Meteo Air Quality API (CAMS model) |
Down: Down 9.5¢ in a week. Week of Oct 12, 2026; covers Texas.
The reading before: $3.874 (Week of Oct 5, 2026).
Series: Texas Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon) (EMM_EPMR_PTE_STX_DPG), as published: 3.779 $/gal.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), weekly retail gasoline prices
Little changed: Down 0.06¢ (−0.4%) from June. July 2026; covers Texas (statewide).
The reading before: 15.94¢ (June 2026).
Series: Average retail price of electricity, Texas, residential (ELEC.PRICE.TX-RES.M), as published: 15.88 cents/kWh.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Electric Power Monthly
Down: Down $124 (−6.4%) from FY2026. FY2027 (Oct 2026 – Sep 2027); covers Dallas, TX HUD Metro FMR Area.
The reading before: $1,931 (FY2026 (Oct 2025 – Sep 2026)).
Series: FY2027 Fair Market Rent, two-bedroom (METRO19100M19100), as published: 1807 $/month.
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Fair Market Rents
Flat: Same as Oct 8. Survey of Oct 15, 2026; covers United States.
The reading before: 7.40% (Survey of Oct 8, 2026).
Series: 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average in the United States (MORTGAGE30US), as published: 7.4 %.
Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, via FRED (St. Louis Fed)
Little changed: Down 0.02 pt in a week. Survey of Oct 15, 2026; covers United States.
The reading before: 6.73% (Survey of Oct 8, 2026).
Series: 15-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average in the United States (MORTGAGE15US), as published: 6.71 %.
Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, via FRED (St. Louis Fed)
Up: Highest since Aug 2025. August 2026; covers United States.
The reading before: 7.14% (May 2026).
Series: Finance Rate on Consumer Installment Loans at Commercial Banks, New Autos 60 Month Loan (RIFLPBCIANM60NM), as published: 7.54 %.
Source: Federal Reserve G.19 Consumer Credit, via FRED (St. Louis Fed)
Unhealthy for sensitive groups: Worst hour 115 · no Good day this week. Oct 5–11, 2026; covers Dallas (modelled, not a monitor).
The reading before: 66 (Sep 28 – Oct 4, 2026).
Series: US AQI, hourly (Open-Meteo, CAMS) (us_aqi@32.7767,-96.797), as published: 115 US AQI.
Gas: the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly average retail price of regular gasoline (all formulations), surveyed every Monday. EIA publishes a weekly price for Texas, California, Florida and New York; for the other markets we show EIA's region and say so — North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia read the Lower Atlantic (PADD 1C), New Jersey and Pennsylvania the Central Atlantic (PADD 1B). Texas reads: Texas.
Electricity: EIA's average retail price for homes (the residential sector), statewide, in cents per kilowatt-hour — total revenue divided by kilowatt-hours sold, so delivery and taxes billed by the utility are in it. Monthly, about two months behind.
Rent: HUD's Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom home in one named area per state — the core of the state's largest metro (Charlotte, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, Miami, Atlanta, the Washington area for Virginia, Philadelphia). It is HUD's 40th-percentile gross rent (rent plus basic utilities) for a standard unit, set once a year for a fiscal year that starts October 1. Texas: Dallas, TX HUD Metro FMR Area.
Mortgage rates: Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the national average for 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate purchase loans, published Thursdays (we read it from FRED, the St. Louis Fed's database). The same figure for every state.
Car loans: the Federal Reserve's G.19 rate on a 60-month new-car loan at commercial banks, national, published once a quarter (via FRED).
Air: the U.S. Air Quality Index, hour by hour, from Open-Meteo's air-quality model (Copernicus CAMS) at one city per state — a model, not a monitor reading. The week's figure is its worst hour, Monday to Sunday; it is the one figure on this page we compute. Texas: Dallas.
Every figure carries the digits its source publishes — gas to a tenth of a cent, electricity to a hundredth of a cent, rates to two decimals, rent to the dollar — and is never rounded, adjusted or blended with another source. Each one links to its source and names the period it describes.
Each figure is compared with the previous reading of the same series: last week's gas and mortgage rates, last month's electricity, the previous quarter's car-loan rate, HUD's previous year for rent, last week's air. A move becomes a headline only when it clears a line set in advance; the gas and mortgage lines are the ones our Markets page uses.
Gas: 2% or more from the week before.
Electricity: 3% or more from the month before.
Rent: 3% or more from HUD's previous year.
Mortgage rates: 0.10 pt or more in a week, or the highest or lowest in 26 weeks or more.
Car-loan rate: 0.25 pt or more from its previous reading, or the highest or lowest in 26 weeks or more.
Air: the week's worst hour at 101 or above (unhealthy for sensitive groups) or 151 or above (unhealthy) — the EPA's own categories.
A change that is zero at the precision the source publishes is “flat”; a move smaller than its line is “little changed”. A “highest since” claim reaches back at least three months. For the rates it is read from the source's whole history (Freddie Mac's survey goes back to 1971); for everything else, from the two years of readings we keep — and when the record is older than that, it says “since at least”.
We read every source twice a week: Tuesday morning, after EIA's Monday gasoline release (Tuesday's, after a federal holiday), and Thursday afternoon, after Freddie Mac's noon mortgage survey.
Each figure keeps its own date: gas, mortgage rates and air are weekly, electricity monthly, the car-loan rate quarterly, rent yearly. “Updated” is the last time we checked the sources.
Not a quote: mortgage and car-loan rates are national averages for borrowers with strong credit, and your rate depends on yours.
Not your bill: electricity is a statewide average price, and your usage sets the bill.
Not an asking rent: HUD's figure sits below the middle of the market by design.
Not a monitor: the air figure is a model's estimate for one city, not a reading from the nearest monitor.
Updated Oct 15, 2026.
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