Gas Prices Continue to Drop Below $3 Per Gallon
The average cost of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in the U.S. has decreased once again this week, now sitting under the $3 mark, as reported by GasBuddy.
Recent data indicates that gasoline prices have dropped by 5 cents since the previous week, bringing the average to $2.90 per gallon. This is a decline of 17.6 cents compared to a month ago and 7.3 cents lower than the same time last year. Diesel prices, on the other hand, have fallen by 5.1 cents in the past week, now averaging $3.671 per gallon. This information is based on a compilation of 12 million individual price reports from over 150,000 gas stations across the country.
Patrick de Haan, head of oil analysis at GasBuddy, mentioned that the U.S. is “currently at multi-year lows heading into Christmas,” and he expects these prices to stay low into the new year.
The nationwide average gas price is approximately $2.952 right now. Just a week ago, that average was $3.001, and a month ago it was $3.073. Prices have seen an even sharper decline in southern and midwestern states. For instance, Oklahoma’s average is around $2.366, while Texas sits at $2.500 and Missouri at $2.608. Several states, including Florida, Alabama, and Michigan, also report averages below $3 per gallon.
Conversely, some of the states with the highest prices are along the coast. California, for example, averages $4.469 per gallon, which is significantly higher than the national average. Other states like New York, Washington, Hawaii, and Nevada also have averages exceeding $3 a gallon.
That said, these current prices are considerably lower than the record highs that Americans faced last summer in 2022, when gas prices peaked at an average of $5.016 per gallon for regular unleaded on June 14. As a comparison, diesel reached an average of $5.816 shortly thereafter.
This news follows an update from last week, which highlighted that average gas prices had dipped below $3 per gallon for the first time in four years. Last month, President Donald Trump celebrated the progress made since the last election, noting that lower prices for gas, food, and rentals were making daily life more manageable for many Americans.
