Gas Prices Near $3 in California
Of the 20 U.S. cities where gas prices are highest, 17 are in California. Over 13 million people who can expect to be among the first in the country to $3 for a gallon of gas this driving season.
The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose 2.7 cents in the past week to $2.324. The most common price was unchanged at $2.099, and the average difference between the highest 5% of prices and the lowest 5% prices is $0.999. One year ago, a gallon of regular gas averaged $2.754 in the United States.
Of the 20 U.S. cities where gas prices are highest, 17 are in California. The 10 cities where a gallon of gas costs more than $2.80 are all in California:
- San Francisco: $2.976; about 840,000 population
- Santa Barbara: $2.886; about 90,000
- San Jose: $2.872; about 999,000
- Salinas: $2.868; about 156,000
- Oakland: $2.845; about 406,000
- Los Angeles: $2.837; about 3.884 million
- Ventura: $2.826; about 109,000
- Bakersfield: $2.826; about 364,000
- San Diego: $2.818; about 3.211 million
- Orange County: $2.816; about 3.114 million
That’s a total of over 13 million people who can expect to be among the first in the country to $3 for a gallon of gas this driving season.
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The five metro areas where gas is cheapest are Lubbock, Texas, ($1.955 a gallon); Tucson, Ariz., ($2.018); Corpus Christi, Texas, ($2.038); Albuquerque, N.M., ($2.041); and San Antonio, Texas ($2.053).
The five states with the lowest average prices are Mississippi ($2.085), South Carolina ($2.089), Texas ($2.093), Louisiana ($2.097) and Oklahoma ($2.100). On the other hand, California ($2.814), Hawaii ($2.728), Washington ($2.602), Alaska ($2.572) and Washington, D.C., ($2.517) are the five states with posted average prices above $2.50 a gallon.
Among U.S. gas stations, nearly 95% are selling gas for $2.00 or more, while 57% are selling gas for $2.25 to $2.49 a gallon and 100% are selling gas for more than $1.75 a gallon.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
