Montana Motorists Pay 51.4 Cents in Gasoline Taxes Per Gallon

When you fill up your vehicle in Montana, 33 cents of every gallon of gasoline goes to the state fuel tax.

There's also an 18-point-4-cent federal gasoline tax.

That means motorists are currently paying a combined 51-point-4 cents in state and federal gasoline taxes on every gallon.

And some of that state money comes back to communities across northeast Montana.

According to the Montana Department of Transportation's current projections for fiscal year 2027, the City of Glasgow is expected to receive just over 151-thousand dollars in state fuel-tax revenue.

Nashua is projected to receive about 33-thousand dollars.

Fort Peck is projected to receive about 31-thousand dollars.

And Opheim is projected to receive nearly 15-and-a-half thousand dollars.

Combined, those four communities are projected to receive about 231-thousand dollars in state fuel-tax allocations during the current fiscal year.

The money isn't simply based on how much gasoline is sold in each community.

MDT uses a statutory formula that includes factors such as eligible road mileage and population when determining local allocations.

But the state fuel tax is only one part of Montana's transportation funding picture.

The federal government provides substantially more money.

For federal fiscal year 2026, Montana was allocated about 588-point-4 million dollars in federal highway funding.

That federal money is distributed through federal highway programs and is used for transportation projects across the state, including highway construction, reconstruction and other improvements.

Montana's state fuel-tax money also helps provide the state's share of transportation funding and matching requirements for federal programs.

So while Glasgow, Nashua, Fort Peck and Opheim are receiving a combined 231-thousand dollars in state fuel-tax allocations this year, Montana is receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in federal highway funding.

For drivers, the numbers show how the transportation system works at several levels.

There's the 33-cent Montana gasoline tax, the 18-point-4-cent federal gasoline tax, local distributions from the state fuel tax, and hundreds of millions of dollars in federal highway funding coming back to Montana.

For communities such as Glasgow, Nashua, Fort Peck and Opheim, those state and federal dollars help provide funding for the roads and transportation infrastructure residents depend on every day.