The State Where Gas Is Below $3

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Nov 20, 11:02AM EST

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The State Where Gas Is Below $3 — © WendellandCarolyn / iStock via Getty Images

In June, as oil prices increased above $100 a barrel, the price of the average gallon of regular gas nationwide surged to over $5. It was the first time in history, gas passed that $5 barrier. The threat that the war in Ukraine might drive up oil even more created anxiety that gas prices had not reached the top. However, oil prices have moved in the other direction, and in one state, the average price of a gallon of gas is below $3. The price per gallon in Texas is $2.94.

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Texas is not the only state where gas prices have fallen near the $3 price point. Gas in Mississippi costs $3.07. In Georgia, it is $3.10, and in Arkansas and Louisiana, it is $3.11.

The trend in oil prices means that gas may drop to $3 in several states. Crude oil prices have dropped to $80 and have fallen most days since the start of November. A recession may have already started, which has moved global demand downward. Crude consumption in China, the world’s largest oil importer, has demonstrated this. According to the FT, “Oil prices fell sharply in the week as mounting concerns about weakening fuel demand in China outweighed fears that Russian supply could drop next month when tighter EU sanctions on its crude exports come into force.”

The news offers a great deal of relief to Europe. Oil imports from its regular supplier, Russia, were cut off due to the war in Ukraine. Gas prices have skyrocketed. Worse, the price of heating oil has risen sharply. Some people may still struggle financially to heat their homes.

When they were at $5, gas prices in the U.S added to the case there would be a deep recession. Those prices will no longer be a significant contributor to economic distress in the America

Gas prices by state tend to be driven by two factors. One is proximity to oil refineries. States close to the Gulf of Mexico and the huge refineries near Houston have an advantage.

The other factor is state gas taxes. According to the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. average of gas taxes by state is $.5709. In Texas, one of the states where the figure is the lowest, the gas tax is $.3840 per gallon.

Travel by car always picks up around Thanksgiving. This year, consumers will get some gas price relief. This will be particularly true in Texas and a few other states where gas prices have collapsed.

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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.