While the price of gasoline nationwide hovers around $3.43, in 10 major cities the figure is above $3.85.
Five of the cities are clustered in California, according to GasBuddy, which is not near any major refineries: San Francisco ($4.02), Oakland ($3.91), Santa Barbara (3.90), San Jose ($3.89) and Salinas ($3.87). The prices in California are also high because the state has the second highest gas taxes in the country.
Two of the 10 cities are in Oregon, also far from refineries: Portland ($3.87) and Eugene ($3.86). Also, the 11th city on the GasBuddy list is Medford ($3.85). The state gas tax in Oregon is 17th highest among all states, according to the Tax Foundation.
Also within the same region, Seattle’s average gas price is $3.92. Washington state ranks ninth in gas tax rates.
The final two cities are a long way from refineries: Anchorage ($3.91) and Honolulu ($4.25). The effect of the distance from refinery facilities is particularly acute in Alaska, which has the lowest gas tax among all states. On the other hand, Hawaii’s gas tax ranks third, and gas has to be shipped to the state from hundreds of miles away.
The gas price drop should encourage holiday travel. According to an earlier article at 24/7 Wall St.:
The average pump price of a gallon of gas is expected to reach $3.41 by the Labor Day weekend, down more than a penny from Wednesday’s price and down more than 2.5 cents from last Friday’s price. The holiday price is 18 cents below last Labor Day and a whopping 42 cents below the Labor Day 2012 price.
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