Gas Prices Linger Above $3 in Some Parts of California

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 12, 9:52AM EST · Published Jul 23, 7:58AM EDT

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Gas Prices Linger Above $3 in Some Parts of California — © Thinkstock

Most of the nation has enjoyed extremely low gas prices for summer driving with the average price for a gallon or regular around $2.30. The AAA claims that some of these prices are among the lowest for the period in many years. However, some portions of the country continue to pay $3 for gas. Most of this is centered in the large cities of California.

The price of the average gallon of regular in San Francisco is $3.05. In Santa Barbara, it is $2.97. In Salinas, it is $2.96 as it is in Oakland. In San Jose and Los Angeles, it is $2.92, according to GasBuddy. The areas have most of California’s population.

Gas prices are primarily affected by three things. The first and largest influence is oil prices, which have lingered under $50 for most of the last three months. Another is state and federal gas taxes. The final is refinery capacity which can drive supply up or down quickly. Areas close to refineries often have low gas prices because of the small cost of transportation, another gas price factor

Gas taxes in California are among the highest in the nation. According to the America Petroleum Institute, the state’s taxes and levies total $.59 per gallon. The U.S. average is $.50. The lowest gas taxes are in Alaska where they are $.31. Gas tax levels by state rarely change, so California drivers are stuck with expensive gas indefinitely.

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WalletHub recently looked at the worst American cities to drive in. Several California cities were at the bottom of the list. Along with infrastructure problems and traffic jams, gas prices were a primary driver

The history of gas prices has long shown the gas prices in California are among the highest in the country. “Indefinitely” could change to years.

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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.