Gas Tops $2 in All 50 States

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 13, 6:55AM EST · Published Jun 12, 9:10AM EDT

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Gas Tops $2 in All 50 States — © Thinkstock

The months when gasoline prices dropped close to $1 a gallon in some parts of the United States are long past. For the first time in nearly a year, the price of an average gallon of regular gas has risen above $2 in every state, according to GasBuddy, and to $2.38 nationwide. In California, the price has moved rapidly toward $3. In some of the largest cities in California, gas prices have already topped that level.

The primary culprit, obviously, is a hike in oil prices, which just crossed above $50 a barrel for the first time since November. The 52-week low for the commodity is $31.61, which puts the price up a breathtaking 60% since then. A number of experts on oil prices have forecast that crude likely will go higher and not lower. Recently, Saudi Arabia broke with OPEC on the need to cap production. The kingdom appears ready to continue huge exports, which have been a critical component in the rise in oil.

Oil-rich states, or those near large refinery complexes, were the last to cross the $2 line. South Carolina has the lowest average price among states at $2.07. In Oklahoma it is $2.11. The largest cluster of refineries in the United States sits south of Houston on the Gulf of Mexico. Nearby Louisiana has a price of $2.13, Alabama at $2.16, Texas at $2.14 and Mississippi at $2.09. All are among the 10 states with the lowest average gas prices.

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Recently, some state legislatures viewed high gas taxes as a means of increasing revenue to fix old roads or to build general funds. Low gas prices meant the bite of higher gas taxes and levies would not hit consumer spending. That point of view no longer applies.

American Petroleum Institute data show that fuel taxes among the states still affect gas prices significantly. The research also shows that most of the oil-rich states have low taxes and levies, which will keep them at the bottom of the gas price list. While the average tax and levy among all states is $0.4804 per gallon, the figure in Oklahoma is $0.3540. In Mississippi it is $0.3728 and in Texas $0.3840. California not only has the highest gas price in the nation, it also has among the highest gas tax levels at $0.5883 per gallon.

The price of oil has risen relentlessly for months. Barring a massive drop in crude, gas prices above $2 are here to stay.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.