The latest roundup of gas prices from AAA places the national average price for regular gas $1.08 below prices at the same time last year. Twenty states have prices that are at least $1 cheaper than last year, and another dozen are at least 90 cents lower. That isn’t the negative prices at which oil futures were trading at one point this month, so no one will pay you to fill up your tank yet — but even if that were the case, given the stay-at-home orders amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic … where would you go?
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The current national average for regular gasoline is, as of this writing, $1.79 a gallon, down from $2.87 last year. Last week, the national average was $1.83 and in March it was $2.11. AAA anticipates that the price will continue to decrease, although the rate of the decrease will slow as demand for gasoline during the time of shelter-in-place continues to wane.
Hawaii currently has the highest state average price at $3.23 a gallon. Among the continental 48 states, California’s prices are the highest at $2.77. On the flip side of that, Wisconsin (home of Mars Cheese Castle and Milwaukee) currently boasts an average price of $1.19 per gallon — the lowest in the country.
Regionally, the lowest prices tend to congregate in the middle third of the country, from the Great Lakes states down through the plains, spreading as far southwest as Texas and through most of the Southeast. The West Coast and most Northeastern states tend to have prices above the national average.
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U.S. domestic crude oil futures have stabilized at $16.50 a barrel following the historic drop into negative territory, but even that recent increase might not drive gas prices up, as the reduction in driving and demand for gasoline continues during the coronavirus pandemic. Oil production is expected to slow globally, which may reduce the rate at which gas prices decrease — but it doesn’t appear that driving or gasoline demand will be increasing soon.
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