2024 Gas Prices and Trends

Motorists hitting the road during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays will find a nice gift when they pull up to a gas pump. The price is likely to be as cheap as it has been throughout 2024.

GasBuddy estimates the national average price of gas will be $2.95 per gallon on Christmas Day, the cheapest Christmas at the pump in four years.

There could be several reasons for this. GasBuddy notes that the Federal Reserve has slowed the economy with a series of interest rate hikes and that has helped to reduce demand.

Another reason is a weak economy in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer. A third reason may be the passage of time. Once an economy heats up and sends prices higher, it takes several months for things to return to normal.

“This holiday season is shaping up to be a gift for American drivers, with gas prices presenting a stark contrast to the budget-breaking levels we’ve seen in recent years and a return to what feels like normal for many Americans filling their tanks,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. 

“After waiting an exhausting two years for imbalances brought on by Covid and Russia’s war on Ukraine to settle down, we’re finally getting back to normal.”

Cheapest and most expensive

Even though overall prices are falling, fuel prices are higher in some states than others. As we approach Christmas week, GasBuddy lists the states with the cheapest and most expensive gas.

Oklahoma ($2.46/gal) | Hawaii ($4.58/gal)

Texas ($2.53/gal) | California ($4.31/gal)

Mississippi ($2.55/gal) | Washington ($3.93/gal)

Arkansas ($2.54/gal) | Nevada ($3.60/gal)

Tennessee ($2.62/gal) | Oregon ($3.47/gal)

GasBuddy recommends holiday road trippers always check fuel prices before filling up, especially when crossing state lines where gas taxes can cause prices to fluctuate.

As holiday travelers make plans to hit the road, the cost of gasoline will make those trips a little more pleasant. The national average gasoline price has dipped below $3 a gallon, hitting its lowest point since 2021.

GasBuddy reports the average gas priced dropped by at least three cents a gallon for an eighth straight week, starting the week at $2.97 a gallon. The national average is down 8.7 cents from a month ago and is 17.7 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has declined 2.3 cents in the last week and stands at $3.491 per gallon.

“The national average has finally fallen below $3 per gallon, and it couldn’t come at a better time for motorists with the holidays upon us. One would need to count over 1,300 days since we’ve seen the national average this low, with the affordability of gasoline at its lowest non-COVID level since 2015,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. 

DeHaan says nearly 110,000 gas stations in 35 states are selling fuel as less than $3 a gallon. 

“The good news is that we’ll likely continue to see additional downward pressure on gas prices, with the national average potentially falling another 10 to 15 cents by Christmas,” he added.

Gasoline prices normally fall when the economy shows signs of softening, but by all accounts, the U.S. economy remains fairly strong. GasBuddy says the current drop in gasoline prices is linked to lower oil prices.

OPEC’s production cuts have done little to raise oil prices, which are hovering just under $70 a barrel. Prices rose slightly at the start of the week, a move largely attributed to the uncertainty in the Middle East following the overthrow of the Syrian government.

Highest and lowest prices

To start the week, the cheapest gas prices are in Oklahoma, with a $2.51 statewide average price of regular. Texas has the second-cheapest gas, with a statewide average price of $2.59 a gallon. Mississippi is third-cheapest with an average price of $2.60 a gallon.

Hawaii has the most expensive gas with an average price of nearly $4.56 a gallon. California is second with an average price of $4.35 a gallon. Washington is third with an average price of $3.95 a gallon.

While inflation is pushing some prices higher, gasoline prices are bucking the trend. The national average of regular gas is nine cents lower than a month ago and 37 cents a gallon cheaper than 12 months ago. 

For the second straight week, GasBuddy reports the national average price of gasoline fell over the previous week, falling 5.3 cents compared to a week ago, and stands at $3.07 per gallon. That’s based on data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country. 

“The national average price of gasoline has continued its decline over the last week, as expected, as oil prices have sunk due to Israel avoiding attacks on Iran’s oil infrastructure, and seasonal decreases in demand are pushing gasoline lower, as is normal for this time of year,”  said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

With gas prices at their lowest level since January, DeHaan says the price of diesel has fallen to a three-year low.

“While many Americans may incorrectly credit the upcoming election for the declines, politicians have little influence over the strong seasonal forces that drive prices lower in autumn,” DeHaan said.

Weaker fuel demand

DeHaan credits weaker demand for keeping oil and gasoline prices low, though demand has picked up recently. While motorists drive less heading into winter, some areas of the economy may be slowing. Consumers struggling with inflation in other areas may also drive less.

The latest report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed U.S. oil inventories has risen by 5.5 million barrels and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased by 800,000 barrels to 384.6 million barrels, nearly 10% higher than a year ago. 

Refineries are putting out more product, as refinery utilization rose almost two percentage points to 89.5%.

In short, gasoline prices – which have cause so much consumer pain in the past – may provide some inflation relief heading into 2025.

The Biden administration, accepting the reality that consumers are not flocking to buy electric vehicles (EV), has backed away from its aggressive timeline to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles from America’s roads.

The administration has announced a new set of standards that allows carmakers more time to meet emission standards. Now, carmakers will be asked to produce a fleet of cars and trucks that will cut greenhouse emissions in half by 2032.

A year ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposal that would have required automakers to make EVs account for 67% of their sales of light-duty vehicles and 46% of medium-duty sales by 2032.

What’s changed? Mostly pushback from the auto industry and its labor unions, a core Democratic Party constituency. They point out that EVs make up about 6% of U.S. vehicle sales and have recently plateaued.

Automakers were the first to respond, cutting back or delaying EV production. Ford is a prime example. 

After reporting that it was losing $1 billion a quarter on EV production, Ford announced it was postponing $12 billion in EV production. GM, meanwhile, scaled back its goal to build 400,000 EVs through the middle of this year. Volkswagen has ditched plans to build a $2 billion EV factory in Germany.

Used EV prices are falling

While EVs cost more than their gasoline-powered counterparts, even with government subsidies, they don’t cost as much as they once did – especially used EVs. A recent study by iSeeCars.com shows the average used car price is down 3.6% in the last 12 months but used EV prices have plunged 31.8%. Yet those falling prices have failed to create a surge in demand.

In a recent report, NPR attributed the slowdown in EV sales to a gap between early adopters, those enthusiastic about EVs, and the rest of consumers. The question is, how long will it take for that gap to disappear, if ever?

It didn’t happen soon enough for Hertz. In 2022, the rental car company announced it would spend $4.2 billion before the end of that year to purchase a fleet of Teslas. But it didn’t ask its customers first.

In January, Hertz said it would sell 20,000 EVs and replace them with gasoline-powered cars. Not long afterward, it fired its CEO.

Consumers dealing with sticky inflation for a number of everyday purchases are finding no relief at the gas pump. Fuel prices have risen sharply over the last four weeks.

According to AAA, the national average price of regular gas is $3.49 a gallon. That's about 10 cents higher than a week ago but the price is nearly 20 cents higher than a month ago. A 15 gallon fillup costs $3 more than it did in mid-February.

The only saving grace is the fact that regular gas costs about the same as it did a year ago. Even so, nearly everything else costs more.

“The national average price of gasoline has risen for the third straight week,” Patrick DeHaan, head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, wrote in a post on X. “We're about two cents above a year ago, and are likely to keep heading higher.”

DeHaan points out that the U.S. has entered the period when oil refineries begin making summer-grade fuel, which is more costly than the gasoline used during the winter months. At the same time, oil prices have been moving steadily higher.

Now that spring has arrived, motorists are driving a little more. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports gasoline demand is slowly rising. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks recently dropped by 5.6 million barrels to 234.1 million barrels, which is also putting pressure on prices.

Prices are rising fastest in Michigan. The statewide average price of regular gas there has increased by 10 cents in the last week and 40 cents a gallon over the last month.

Here are the states with the most expensive regular gasoline:

These are the states with the lowest prices for regular gasoline:

Inflation has fallen in recent months and one reason may be falling gasoline prices. But that might be about to change.

According to AAA, the national average price of regular gas is $3.15 a gallon, five cents higher than seven days ago. The average price is up six cents a gallon in the last month.

“We are in that time of year where pump prices begin to heat up, usually peaking around July,” said Andrew Gross, AAA’s spokesperson. “But unless something shocks the global oil market and causes prices to spike, the national average for a gallon of gas will probably stagger higher, with some flat days or even small price dips along the way.”

But something could be lurking that could cause prices to escalate faster than expected. Hostilities are increasing in the Middle East, and not just between Israel and Hamas. The conflict in Yemen is drawing in U.S. forces because of threats to shipping – primarily oil shipments.

Closer to home, there is a major outage at BP’s Whiting refinery, halting gasoline production. Patrick DeHaan, head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, says it is likely fuel production will stop for a couple of weeks, though he says that assessment could change with more information.. At the same time, he says gasoline demand is rising.

Where prices are rising the fastest

Prices are rising the most in the Southeast, which normally has the cheapest gas. Prices are already rising in the Midwest, a region that may feel the brunt of the refinery closure. Here are the states in the Southeast and Midwest that have seen the sharpest one-week increase in prices at the pump:

• West Virginia    + $.10

• Minnesota    + $.09

• Alabama    + $.08

• Virginia    + $.05

• Michigan    + $.04

Wyoming has the cheapest gas prices in the nation, with a statewide average price of regular at $2.68 a gallon. Oklahoma is second with an average price of $2.70.

California continues to have the highest gas prices in the nation. The statewide average for regular gas is $4.56 a gallon.