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What Does Gas Cost Where You Live?
By JLP | September 17, 2008
Gas prices have been on a roller coaster ride this summer. This seems to be the case every summer, but this year in particular the price of oil has been bobbing up and down dramatically with all the turmoil in the financial markets, political/military activity abroad, and the onset of hurricane season.
Over the past week – after hurricane Gustov and before Ike – gas prices skyrocked in much of the country, despite the fact that the cost of oil has decreased below $100 a barrel.
On Friday (before Ike hit) my parents in Alabama warned me that their local gas prices had spiked above $4.50 per gallon for regular gas – AND that their local station had implemented a 10 gallon per person ration! I was stunned, in Texas where I am I’d just filled up for around $3.80 per gallon. Their prices are still well over $4 a gallon, though I’m not sure if the ration is still in place.
I have some clients in South Carolina who mentioned to me that they were paying over $5 per gallon over the weekend.
Allegedly some of this discrepancy is due to the proximity of those locations to drilling locations which were suspended in preparation for or response to hurricane events. However I’m still not clear on why exactly that would only affect certain states; Texas is very near a lot of that drilling, but apparently our prices have remained lower than the national average last week, according to a story I heard on NPR a few days ago.
In any event, I thought it might be a fun informal poll: what state are you from and what are you currently paying for gas?
Topics: Miscellaneous | 42 Comments »
September 17th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Great question!
The prices here in Cache Valley, UT are $3.79 (regular) $3.89 (plus) and $3.99 (premium). We usually get the plus, so I’m paying $3.89. But I go to a local gas station with a relationship with a grocery store and get a 15 cent discount. So I guess I’m really paying $3.74.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I’m in Austin, TX, and all weekend, I paid $3.50. Yesterday, I noticed my neighborhood pump was up to $3.60. But, I walk to work, so I didn’t really notice too much
September 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Wisconsin – $4.09 this morning.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
$3.75 in St. Louis, Missouri
September 17th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I’m in SC and took great joy in reporting a few gas stations to the SC Attorney General for obvious price-gouging last Friday. It was RIDICULOUS.
Currently I’m seeing prices vary from $3.69 to $4.29 – depending on how close the station is to the highway.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
last Friday $3.51 today same station $3.84
This is costal Maine 30 miles north of Portland
September 17th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Hi there. As of today (9/17) gas prices in Omaha, NE are around $3.19-$3.25/gallon.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Yesterday we paid $3.89 in New Haven CT.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
$3.45 here in Fort Lee, NJ
September 17th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Well the good news is that most places seem to be keeping it well below $4 per gallon!
September 17th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
In Toronto, Canada the prices spiked over $0.50/gallon before Ike hit. The funny thing is we’re no where near the path and the price of crude was going down. We’re at about $4.90/gal which is outrageous since Canada is a major oil producer.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
$4.39
I have an Acura, therefore I must use premium gas…argh
September 17th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I’m in Asheville, NC and just paid $4.58 this weekend. Right now I have seen it anywhere from $3.99 to $4.75, with a couple stations busted for selling it upwards of $6+.
The problem here seems to involve a pipeline from Louisiana combined with the normal and obvious logistical problems of transporting fuel around the mountains.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Oh, and I forgot to mention, those prices are IF you can find it. Almost every station you drive by here is out. When they do get it in people swarm the place like piranhas and drain them. They are crazy about panicking here. Whenever they mention snow the store shelves are empty of bread. There is a guy at my office who was talking about how he has 45 gallons of gas locked up in tanks in his garage during this mess. Makes me glad I have a Toyota Echo.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
In the Phoenix east valley (Mesa/Gilbert/Chandler), prices have been $3.40-$3.45 / gal for the last 2 or 3 weeks.
Of course there’s a few rogue stations that bump it up an extra 10c while right across the street it’s 15c cheaper, and unbelievably, there are always some people filling up at the higher price.
September 17th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I’m on the east coast of Canada in New Brunswick (East of Maine), and google tells me:
1.39 (Canadian dollars per liter) = 4.89280724 U.S. dollars per US gallon
September 17th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Ooh – a problem with a pipeline would make sense. I was guessing that the shipping lanes in the gulf have been closed a lot due to all the storms. Ike was hanging out there for like a week; same with Gustav a couple weeks before that. I’m not sure if tankers go through that weather.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Southern California: $3.75 – $4.50
Actually down from previous weeks
September 17th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Northern California, just paid $3.75 per gallon today. It was $3.89 last time I filled up.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I’m in Kansas right now and prices are in the $3.65 range.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Regular gas for $3.59 this morning in Los Angeles. Prices have been going down here for the past couple weeks.
September 17th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
$3.79 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Tom is beating me by $.04!
September 17th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
$3.75 yesterday / Puyallup, WA (30 miles south of Seattle)
September 17th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
$3.53 in Casper Wyoming.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Western suburbs of Chicago $4.15 today for unleaded
September 17th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Here in Manitoba, Canada we are paying $1.47/liter wfor low end gas. That’s $5.57/gallon if you can believe that.
A little crazy if you ask me!
September 18th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Here is Des Moines IA, $3.49 for ethenol blend and $3.62 for regular unleaded. Watch the pumps though. This morning I filled up with the $3.62/gallon advertised on the street sign. As I was waiting, I realized the pump was charging me $3.72!! This difference had to have been there since the previous evening when I drove past and noticed the newly posted $3.62/gallon price. When I let the attendant know, it was obvious no one else had said anything. Hundreds of people filled up during that time and no one noticed!! I sent an email to the headquarters this morning. I truly think it was a mistake, not an attempt to mislead. But mistakes happen at the pump just like at the grocery store, so be alert.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:30 am
The cheapest I have seen in South Florida is $3.69 for regular and $3.99 for premium. The most expensive premium I have seen is around $4.19.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:59 am
In Michigan I paid $4.09 this morning.
Rumor has it that our state attorney general sent out some letters inquiring into potential price gouging over the weekend.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I am in Houston itself and prices were locked to not go higher than 3.79 during this time period. At the stations that have power and are open now that have new shipments of fuel I am seeing from $3.38 to $3.69 this morning (9/18).
There have been lines over a mile long waiting at stations that thought they might get gas!!!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Memphis prices are around $4.10-$4.20 for a gallon of regular. Many stations were out of gas over the weekend. My dad in western NC said they are paying anywhere from $4.20-$4.80. There was an article in the Charlotte Observer about one of the major pipelines to Charlotte coming from Texas – so everyone in NC freaked and gas prices shot up. In Memphis all of our gas comes from TX & LA so we’re used to how the hurricanes effect supply and demand – hence supplies were short, but prices weren’t ridiculous.
I filled up early last week knowing what Ike would do to prices and supplies here. I’m still around a half a tank. Yesterday I had to run errands all within a quarter mile of my house. I just took my bike – it was a nice day so I probably would have done it anyway despite gas prices.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Philip wrote:
“There have been lines over a mile long waiting at stations that thought they might get gas!!!”
Yeah, I noticed that when we were on our way to Spring. When we left to go back north to Kansas, I had to drive well over 100 miles before I finally reached a town that didn’t have long lines of people waiting for gas.
September 18th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
In the Des Moines, IA area, it is $3.50 to $3.70.
My sister lives in Galveston (yes, she evacuated, her home is OK – but had 4 1/2 feet of water in it). When she was here in July, she couldn’t believe our grocery prices – they are that much higher than what she pays. But their gas prices were higher than ours. Go figure . . .
Still praying for life to return to normal for Gulf coast residents . .
Beth
September 18th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Gas today (9-18) 3.55 for E10, 3.65 for reg unleaded, 3.75 for prem. The highest it got here in Marion, Iowa during the Ike mess, was 3.79 for E10 and increased 10ยข each for the other grades…
September 18th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I’m in Los Angeles, California and it’s $3.75/gal.
September 18th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I am in KS and I filled up last night for $3.49. I thought that was high, but I guess not… maybe there is a plus to living in the middle of the country, away from any oceans.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I live in West Texas and am paying about $3.99. My sister, who lives outside Atlanta reported that right after Ike, she was paying $5 and that many stations were out of gas. I didn’t understand it either.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Today, in St. Louis, Mo its $3.71
September 19th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Gas here in Toledo, Ohio is $3.89 a gallon. It just went down after a week of being at 3.99. It was a nice $3.58 before the hurricanes.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I live in Colorado Springs and I paid $3.49 last night but saw a place this morning on the way to work for $3.46. It is slowly dropping but not fast enough.
September 26th, 2008 at 1:45 am
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September 26th, 2008 at 10:47 am
This morning I Paid $3.45 in southern california.