As many drivers are taking to the road this Independence Day, most can take comfort knowing that they’ll be paying less to travel as average U.S. gas prices post their cheapest levels at $2.23 a gallon.
“Gas prices are finding their sweet spot as a drop of 5 cents gallon in the last week, put prices well below what they were selling for at the beginning of the year” said Dan McTeague, Senior Petroleum Analyst with GasBuddy.com. “Not only are we paying less despite tradition summer demand patterns which inevitably push up gas prices, but having lower prices for Independence Day than on January 1st, in the same year, is unprecedented in GasBuddy’s 17 years”.
In the last week, the downward trend in prices was seen in 46 of 50 states with Michigan leading the charge (down 8.9 cents), Ohio (down 6.6 cents), South Dakota (down 5.1 cents), Kentucky (down 5 cents) and Florida (down 4.6 cents). Bucking the almost unanimous falling pattern was Hawaii (up 9.6 cents), Indiana which just saw a new 10 cent a gallon tax (up 3.3 cents), Illinois (up 2.1 cents) and Massachusetts (up 1 cent).
Year over year, 14 out of 50 states have seen prices at the pump rise, most notably Hawaii, (up 53.8 cents), Alaska (up 27.8 cents) Utah (up 21.7 cents) Nevada (up 20.6 cents) and New Jersey (up 17.4 cents). For the other 36, decreases are in the range of 3-10 cents a gallon with several states, including, Missouri, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and South Carolina now offering gasoline for under the $2 a gallon on average. The state with the priciest is Hawaii at $3.36 a gallon, California at just over $3 and Alaska at $2.91. South Carolina at $1.90, Oklahoma at $1.95 and Alabama at $1.96 lead the states with the best prices gas.
All in all, Independence Day 2017 is sure to bring a few smiles to motorists, who might now have even more cause to celebrate,” added McTeague