Gas Prices On the Rise In Parts of the U.S. Due to High Demand and Low Supplies

Gas prices at a Shell station in South San Francisco, California on October 3rd.

Gas prices at a Shell station in South San Francisco, California on October 3rd.Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

I fear the uptick many Americans are seeing in gas prices won’t be slowing down anytime soon. While much of the increase in prices have been centered around the West Coast, those higher prices are spreading to more and more states across the country. The national average gas price now sits at $3.81 per gallon, and much of the U.S. is seeing prices far higher than that, according to AAA.

Like I said, the high price concentration out west isn’t exactly new, but it’s trickling. Now Michigan and Illinois are seeing higher prices of $4.18 and $4.21 per gallon, respectively. California, as is tradition, has by far the highest average of gas prices in the whole country at $6.41 per gallon. Prices are so high again in the Golden State that officials are allowing the sale of a less expensive winter blend of gas a month ahead of schedule.

Also notably, nearly all of the lowest prices in the country are in southern states, which means the impact of Hurricane Ian on the region didn’t do as much damage to low gas prices as was originally predicted. That’s certainly a good thing. Connecticut also has some of the lowest prices in the country, but they’re a bit weird so we’ll chuck that up to a strange coincidence.

The current national average price per gallon of gas, now $3.81, is up six cents from a week ago, but luckily it is far off of the record high that was set in mid-June at $5.02 per gallon. It’ll be some time before we ever see prices that high again.

The reason for these increases in prices are for the tried and true formula of supply and demand. AAA reports a diminished supply of gas to western states because of refinery maintenance coupled with more people hitting the roads is to blame. The reasons for midwestern states seeing higher prices is the same formula, except instead of maintenance there was a very large and deadly refinery fire in Toledo, Ohio that closed the plant on September 20.

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Anyway, let’s take a look at the prices around the country.

Here is the highest average gas prices in the country in order of highest price for a gallon regular:

Here is the lowest average price of gasoline in the country in order of lowest price per gallon of regular:

We may never know gas price peace ever again