Gas Buddy released “15 Fun and Fascinating Facts” today about gas prices.

According to the facts, gas prices – on the national level – have dropped one cent from yesterday, and that gas is down 41 cents from this period last year.

The facts are as follows:

1.       The national average is $3.380/gal, down a half cent from yesterday. In the last 40 days, 38 of them have seen the daily national average decrease from the previous day. There has also been a streak of 34 consecutive days of lower prices, from September 3 to October 6. This is the longest chain of downward prices since 2008, when prices went down every day for a whopping 86 days, from September 18 to December 12. According to Tom Kloza, the streak of consecutive down days could be broken in the next few days. Wholesale prices moved up an average 11.7cts gal from October 4-10, and that will slow down the pace of decreases and perhaps even lead to occasional regional increases by Monday.

 

2.       Thus far in October, the month-to-date average is $3.39/gal. This is 41cts/gal lower than the same period last year.

 

3.       October 9 saw the largest year-on-year difference so far in 2013, with prices 44cts gal lower than on the same day in 2012.

 

4.       Less than 1percent of the country currently finds prices over $4.00/gal. This is far less people than this time last year, when 16percent of the stations were reporting prices over $4.00/gal.

 

5.       In contrast, nearly 5percent of the country is under $3.00/gal, while last year, less than .01percent of stations fell under that threshold.

 

6.       The most common price in the country is $3.40/gal, which is 10cts higher than the price one would come across most frequently last week. The price is 10cts lower than the most common price a month ago.

 

7.       Missouri’s average is the lowest in the country at $3.064/gal, unseating South Carolina for the spot, while predictably Hawaii holds the title for the highest average, at $4.20/gal. Hawaii is also the only state with an average above $4.00/gal.

 

8.       South Carolina has the lowest median price today, at $3.06/gal, which is 44cts lower than last year’s median price in the state. Last year, at a median price of $3.50/gal, South Carolina held the lowest median price as well.

 

9.       Hawaii is the only state with a median price over $4.00/gal. At $4.10/gal, this is still 27cts lower than its median price last year.
10.   Speaking of Hawaii, the highest priced 1percent of stations average $4.90/gal, the highest of all the states’ most expensive stations. (Last week, Hawaii’s highest 1percent broke the $5.00/gal mark at $5.10/gal.)

 

11.   Virginia has the least expensive 1percent of stations in the nation; they average $2.84/gal, down 57cts from Virginia’s lowest 1percent last year.

 

12.   Alaska has the largest span between the most and least expensive sites in the state. About $1.23/gal separates the highest 1percent average ($4.84/gal) with the lowest 1percent average ($3.61/gal.)

 

13.   Conversely, Delaware has the smallest gap between its highest 1 percent and lowest 1percent stations. Only 34cts differentiates the averaged highest prices ($3.55/gal) and the lowest ($3.21/gal.)

 

14.   The median price is down in every state compared to last month and last year.

 

15.   At an average of $3.839/gal, California is seeing prices 83cts lower than its average last year, the biggest year-on-year increase of all the states by far. In a distant second, New Jersey’s average of $3.235/gal is 55cts lower than this time last year.

 

For further information, contact Tom Kloza at tkloza@gasbuddy.com.