Gas Price Down a Dime a Gallon In Last Week

Oil prices continued their plunge this week but it's taking gasoline prices a little longer to catch up.

Still, motorists saw some relief as the national average price of self-serve regular fell today to $3.60 a gallon, down a dime from $3.70 last Friday, according to AAA.

The price of diesel fuel is $3.915 a gallon, down about a nickel than last week's price.

Oil prices fell to around the $82 a barrel range this week as concerns mounted over the European debt crisis and mounting evidence that the U.S. economy is slowing once again. Many oil analysts have insisted for months that oil was overpriced, based on market fundamentals.

While a drop of ten cents a gallon might not seem like a lot, some states experienced much faster declines. The decline in Missouri was absolutely jaw-dropping as the average price went from $3.547 a gallon last Friday to $3.369 today. In Michigan, the price fell by 10 cents a gallon. It fell by nearly that much in South Carolina.

Even Alaska motorists saw a sizable price decline that dropped their average price below $4 a gallon, leaving Hawaii the only state with an average price north of that psychological mark. 

The states with the most expensive gasoline today are:

• Hawaii ($4.125)
• Connecticut ($3.973)
• Alaska ($3.920)
• New York ($3.917)
• Washington, DC ($3.833)
• Rhode Island ($3.800)
• Illinois ($3.788)
• Washington ($3.787)
• California ($3.750)
• Maine ($3.731)

 The states with the least expensive gasoline today are:

• Arizona ($3.361)
• Missouri ($3.369)
• South Carolina ($3.422)
• Oklahoma ($3.460)
• Colorado ($3.484)
• New Mexico ($3.487)
• Arkansas ($3.494)
• Tennessee ($3.496)
• Mississippi ($3.500)
• Virginia ($3.510)