Gas Prices Still Up 47 Percent From 10 Years Ago
See what happened to prices where you live using data from GasBuddy, AAA, and the federal government
This map shows the average gas price for January 2015 when your cursor hovers over a state. Click a state for gas prices from previous years. Explore, then see our conclusions and an animation showing prices over time below.
The January 2015 price (taken Jan. 22) is an average of averages. We took the prices from GasBuddy (which uses data reported by drivers) and combined them with prices from AAA (which uses data reported by the gas stations themselves) to get the most accurate result we could. The 2014 data was from GasBuddy, and previous years came from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Animation with price labels:
Conclusions
Drivers in Hawaii consistently pay the most for gas — even now, when the national average is around $2.04, they’re still paying $3.31 a gallon.
Alaska, New England, and California are also consistently among the worst.
No state consistently has the cheapest gas, but drivers in Oklahoma, Utah and Missouri are among the luckiest. The Midwest and central U.S. generally have cheaper prices.
Two other maps help explain these price trends: The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s map of oil pipelines and refineries and the American Petroleum Institute’s map of gasoline taxes.
Hawaii, for instance, has a relatively high gas tax and few ways of getting its fuel. It takes time to import the recent cheaper stuff, getting it there isn’t easy, and there are relatively few drivers to spread the higher cost across. Oklahoma is a major hub for shipping oil, and has one of the lowest gas tax rates.
