After days of decreases at the pumps, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas increased to $3.102 on Wednesday.
It marked a nearly three-cent increase from Tuesday, when the price was $3.078, according to AAA.com. The rise in fuel costs comes two days after the White House celebrated low gas prices nationwide.
Gas prices are higher than a week ago, when the national average cost was $3.08. Despite the increased costs, Wednesday’s price point is less expensive than a month ago, when the national average price for a gallon of regular gas was $3.164. Prices are cheaper than a year ago, when former President Joe Biden was in office and gas was $3.489 per gallon.
Fuel costs have regularly been a hot topic in the country, perhaps even more so in the last few years when gas prices significantly increased under Biden. People in the country had to pay record highs for gas during the former president’s time in office. It started shortly after he took office. After the average price for a gallon of regular gas was $2.476 during Trump’s first term between Jan. 2017 and Jan. 2021, gas prices hit over $3 per gallon beginning in June 2021.
The country continued to experience higher gas prices during Biden’s entire term. A little over a year after his inauguration, the average price for a gallon of regular gas reached a record high of over $5 per gallon, with an average price of $5.032 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Association. It was the most expensive price in the nation’s history. The following month, the average price dropped to $4.92 per gallon for regular gas, a record for the highest average price for regular gas in a single month.
Prices fell a bit in July 2022 and continued to drop gradually for the remainder of the year. Over the next two years, fuel costs fluctuated quite a bit but remained above the $3 per gallon threshold and higher than when Trump was in office. By April 2024, fuel costs peaked for the year before starting to decrease again in May. This steady decline would exist for the remainder of the year, dropping to a national average price of $3.01 per gallon a week before Christmas.
Costs began to rise after Christmas before falling again on Jan. 20, the day Trump started his second term. Gas prices increased weekly in February, which many experts linked to the tariffs on Mexico and Canada that Trump teased before deciding to postpone them.
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Gas prices vary throughout the country depending on the state. California has the most expensive gas in the nation, with an average of $4.65 per gallon. Conversely, Mississippi has the country’s lowest average gas price, at $2.649.
The prices in and around Washington, D.C., also vary depending on the state. Delaware has the cheapest gas in the area at $2.867 per gallon, according to AAA. This is followed by Virginia, where regular gas is $2.923 per gallon. Next is Maryland, where the average price for a gallon of regular gas is $3.025. The area with the highest gas prices is the nation’s capital, where consumers pay $3.198 per gallon.