Gas prices: More expensive than a week ago, two days before Christmas

The average price for a gallon of regular gas remained steady after five days of increases last week. 

According to AAA, the national average cost for a gallon of regular gas on Monday is $3.042. This price is higher than the $3.024 per gallon price a week ago. Before last week’s increases, the cost had fallen to $3.011 earlier this month.

Despite the recent increases, gas prices in the nation had been falling for weeks. Currently, the national cost of gas is the lowest since May 2021, when the average price was $2.985 per gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration. In June 2021, prices rose, eventually reaching record-high averages of over $4 per gallon. Gas prices began to fall after setting the highest national average price in the country’s history in 2022. In 2023, gas prices rose again and peaked in April 2024 before steadily dropping in May.

Gas prices have been a controversial political topic for most of the time President Joe Biden has been in office. After reaching record national prices, Biden assured the nation that gas prices would fall. Years later, near the end of his term, that promise has finally come to fruition. Nevertheless, despite this year’s substantial decrease in gas prices, gas costs remain higher now than when President-elect Donald Trump was in office between January 2017 and January 2021.

The price of regular gas does continue to fluctuate throughout the country. Prices range from under $2.55 to over $4.50 per gallon. Hawaii has the highest average price for a gallon of gas, at $4.53. Oklahoma has the cheapest gas prices in the country, at $2.549 per gallon.

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Heading into Christmas, gas prices for states in the Delmarva region remain lower than the national average – all except the average cost for a gallon of gas in Washington, D.C.

In Delaware, the cost for a gallon of gas is the cheapest in the area and the least expensive of all states on the East Coast, with a price of $2.751. In Maryland, the average price for a gallon of regular gas is $2.902, slightly more expensive than the First State but still less than the national average. In Virginia, regular gas costs $2.887 per gallon. And in Washington, D.C., drivers in the nation’s capital have the most expensive price for gas, with a cost of $3.235 per gallon.

Click here to see the current prices of gas in other states throughout the country.