America’s Cheapest Gas Is in Columbus, Ohio

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
America’s Cheapest Gas Is in Columbus, Ohio

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America’s cheapest gas on Thursday was in Columbus, Ohio, where the price of regular was $1.20 a gallon. At the United Dairy Farmers, 3535 Clime Road Station, to be exact.

The $1.20 price may be due to a price war. The four stations with the lowest gas prices in the United States were in Columbus, as were six of the top eight. The most expensive gas among these eight locations is $1.25 a gallon.

The price is unusually low, compared to the $1.85 national average, according to GasBuddy.

That national average will go lower, probably much lower. Crude oil prices have dropped to $28. A year ago, the price was nearly $65 a barrel.

One main reason for the drop in gasoline prices is the sea of available oil, due in part to a flood from Saudi Arabia, and perhaps to falling demand as the global economy slows.
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Oil is not the only factor. Proximity to refineries is also an issue. The average gas price in Louisiana is $1.67. In Oklahoma it is $1.57, and in Texas, $1.55. All are near the huge refineries south of Houston and the Gulf of Mexico, which is dotted by deepwater oil drilling platforms.

Gasoline taxes by state are another factor. The average nationwide is $0.48 per gallon. In Oklahoma it is $0.35. But in Ohio, the number is $0.46, evidence that Columbus is in the midst of a price war.

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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