With area gasoline prices down as much as 45 cents per gallon from a year ago, here are some facts to ponder from gasbuddy.com.
1. The national average is $3.38 per gallon, down a half cent from Thursday. In the last 40 days, 38 of them have seen the daily national average decrease from the previous day. There has also been a streak of 34 consecutive days of lower prices, from Sept. 3 to Oct. 6. This is the longest chain of downward prices since 2008, when prices went down every day for a whopping 86 days, from Sept. 18 to Dec. 12. According to Tom Kloza, the streak of consecutive down days could be broken in the next few days. Wholesale prices moved up an average 11.7 cents gal from Oct. 4-10, and that will slow down the pace of decreases and perhaps even lead to occasional regional increases by Monday.
2. Thus far in October, the month-to-date average is $3.39/gal. This is 41 cents/gal lower than the same period last year.
3. Oct. 9 saw the largest year-on-year difference so far in 2013, with prices 44 cents gal lower than on the same day in 2012.
4. Less than 1 percent of the country currently finds prices over $4.00/gal. This is far less people than this time last year, when 16percent of the stations were reporting prices over $4.00/gal.
5. In contrast, nearly 5percent of the country is under $3.00/gal, while last year, less than .01 percent of stations fell under that threshold.
6. The most common price in the country is $3.40/gal, which is 10 cents higher than the price one would come across most frequently last week. The price is 10 cents lower than the most common price a month ago.
7. Missouri’s average is the lowest in the country at $3.064/gal, unseating South Carolina for the spot, while predictably Hawaii holds the title for the highest average, at $4.20/gal. Hawaii is also the only state with an average above $4.00/gal.
8. South Carolina has the lowest median price today, at $3.06/gal, which is 44 cents lower than last year’s median price in the state. Last year, at a median price of $3.50/gal, South Carolina held the lowest median price as well.
9. Hawaii is the only state with a median price over $4.00/gal. At $4.10/gal, this is still 27 cents lower than its median price last year.
10. Speaking of Hawaii, the highest priced 1percent of stations average $4.90/gal, the highest of all the states’ most expensive stations. (Last week, Hawaii’s highest 1percent broke the $5.00/gal mark at $5.10/gal.)
11. Virginia has the least expensive 1percent of stations in the nation; they average $2.84/gal, down 57 cents from Virginia’s lowest 1percent last year.
12. Alaska has the largest span between the most and least expensive sites in the state. About $1.23/gal separates the highest 1percent average ($4.84/gal) with the lowest 1percent average ($3.61/gal.)
13. Conversely, Delaware has the smallest gap between its highest 1percent and lowest 1percent stations. Only 34 cents differentiates the averaged highest prices ($3.55/gal) and the lowest ($3.21/gal.)
14. The median price is down in every state compared to last month and last year.
15. California has seen the largest decrease in price over last year by 27 cents. At an average of $3.839/gal, the Golden State is seeing prices 83 cents lower than its average last year.
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