Gas Prices Top $2.50 in All 50 States
Retail gasoline prices now exceed $2.50 a gallon for regular gas in all 50 states. Californians are paying almost $3.62 a gallon while Oklahomans are paying $2.50.
The pump price of a gallon of regular gasoline tops $2.50 in all 50 states now that Oklahoma, the only holdout earlier this week with a price of $2.49 a gallon, has finally edged over the line. The national average price stood at $2.81 on Monday and is just a fraction of a penny under $2.82 as of Friday morning, according to AAA.
Wednesday’s large build in U.S. petroleum inventories has slowed the pace of price increases, which added about five cents a gallon in each of the prior two weeks. U.S. oil production rose last week, and along with rising rig counts, indicate that U.S. production is on track to continue rising through the rest of this year.
Retail price changes normally lag changes in crude oil prices by a few weeks, so the gas prices increases we’ve seen in the past few weeks reflect the higher crude prices of late March and early April. Crude oil price hikes are slowing down, and if they continue to do so we should see some (probably slight) drop in gasoline prices ahead of the Memorial Day holiday. But with the summer driving season about to get into full swing, prices could easily top $2.90 later this summer.
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As of Friday morning, according to GasBuddy, these are states with the lowest pump prices for a gallon of regular gas:
- Oklahoma: $2.500
- Louisiana: $2.507
- Arkansas: $2.5160
- Mississippi: $2.530
- Alabama: $2.557
- South Carolina: $2.557
- Missouri: $2.562
- Kansas: $2.582
- Texas: $2.594
- Tennessee: $2.596
The 10 states with the highest prices Friday morning are:
- California: $3.618
- Hawaii: $3.586
- Washington: $3.284
- Nevada: $3.245
- Alaska: $3.23
- Oregon: $3.201
- Idaho: $3.106
- Utah: $3.085
- Pennsylvania: $3.016
- Washington, D.C.: $2.966
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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.
