Drivers in the state of Washington are enjoying the beginning of summer with an unwanted sight: the highest petrol prices in the United States.
According to data provided by AAA, the price of a gallon of standard petrol in the state of Washington has increased by 32 cents over the course of the last month, reaching a new average of $4.93. That puts you 7 cents ahead of California, a state infamous for having extremely high costs for everything, but especially petrol.
This is not a typical pattern at all. According to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, California has held the unenviable title of being the most costly state in the United States for the purchase of petrol for almost 95% of the time throughout the course of the past few years.
According to GasBuddy, the records going back to 2005 show that Washington has never been the state with the highest average price of petrol before these past few days. Additionally, this is the first time in that era that a state located in the Pacific Northwest has outranked both California and Hawaii.
Even though the state of Washington has the highest average price, petrol outlets in close proximity to big cities in California continue to charge exorbitant prices. According to AAA, eight of the top ten metropolitan areas in the United States with the highest price at the pump are situated in the state of California.
Despite this, there are still motorists in the state of Washington who are spending much over $5 per gallon. According to AAA, the price of a gallon of standard petrol in King County, which is where Seattle is located, is currently $5.09 on average. The price of petrol in Skamania County, Washington, is on average $5.32 a gallon.
The price of petrol in Washington state is approximately $2 more expensive per gallon than it is in Mississippi, which is the state in the United States with the lowest average fuel prices, at $3.01 per gallon.
The good news is that the price of petrol in the United States is significantly lower than it was on the first day of summer a year ago. This is true even in the state of Washington, where the average price of a gallon was $5.54 a year ago.
The price of ordinary petrol has decreased by $1.39 from the same time last year, bringing the national average down to $3.58 per gallon. This decline is a reflection of the precipitous fall in the price of oil in the midst of concerns about the economy and the fight against inflation being waged by the Federal Reserve. As a direct result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in June of 2016, the national average price of a gallon of petrol reached a new all-time high of $5.02 during that month.
According to data provided by AAA, the cost of a gallon of petrol in Delaware has decreased by 1.61 cents over the course of the past year, making it the state with the lowest average price. Large price reductions have also occurred in the states of Michigan ($1.59), Indiana ($1.59), California ($1.53), Alaska ($1.53), and Texas ($1.51) throughout the course of the previous year.
