Gas prices have dropped by about $0.10 this week according to a national survey quoted by CNN Money.
Sadly for those of you in Chicagoland your average gas price is still $3.15—even though the nationwide average has sunk to $2.78. May's peak national average was $3.18.
Sorry, Chicago.
Here are a few prices from other cities:
-St. Louis, Mo.: $2.52
-Baton Rouge, La.: $2.65
-Houston: $2.66
-Atlanta: $2.72
-Boston: $2.78
-Washington: $2.84
-Boise, Idaho: $2.94
-Los Angeles: $2.85
Survey: Gas prices drop a dime [CNN Money]
(Photo:diaper)












Comments
Wow -- even Connecticut's gas is cheaper than Chicago's.
Yes, I know Connecticut is a state, not a city, but we're geographically small enough to almost be considered one market.
Gas prices in Chicago really aren't that bad. I don't own a car since I live downtown, but I rent fairly often, like this past weekend. Gas in the city itself is always pricey so most people buy in the burbs. Out there, gas was only about $2.90 for midgrade gas. That's not bad considering I paid about the same amount 5 years ago when I drove regularly.
$2.75 in Pittsburgh
For the first time, I'm glad I live in St. Louis.
I better fill up after work before it goes up again. Cheap gas doesn't last for too long :(
I have a car in Chicago, although I'd ditch it if I could (kinda hard to haul drums without it though). Luckily I don't drive much, so a tank will last me a month or more if I'm careful. I can't believe we're still paying so much for gas here or how wildly prices vary even just driving down the block to a different station.
I filled up for $2.58 at the Wilco station in the 30180 zip code (Villa Rica GA 20 mins from Atlanta). Its still nothing but a bunch of gouging.
Down to $ 2.459 here in Central/Southern NJ
I see that gas in the UP ($2.96) is above the average like it always is. I love being gouged. *Bends over to continue taking it.*
@ancientsociety: Which burbs? I've been south west (to Midway) and north (Evanston and O'Hare) in the last week and I didn't catch any sub $3.
The only reason I have a car in the city is because I travel frequently, so it is not uncommon to go a week or two without moving it. At the rate I drive, I'm more inclined to complain about car insurance than downtown gas prices...but I still think it's pretty ridiculous to be almost $1 more than some areas. Just goes to show the gouging happens when they keep the prices up.
If Verizon was making this $.10 change, it'd be a ten dollar drop. Getting paid to pump gasoline into my car would be a nice change...
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
Best solution is to leave Cook County, more specifically the City of Chicago.
If you are returning a rental car to MDW and you are coming from the City, go one exit past Cicero Ave to Exit 285, Central Ave. Fill up there at either the BP or the Citgo/Marathon on Central instead of on Cicero. A little known fact is that locale is suburban unincorporated, not Chicago. Also the gas stations on Cicero between 55 and the airport charge on average $.12 more/gallon because they know that rental car returnees are dumb enough to pay it.
Better yet, if you live in an area with a Speedway, use your Rewards card, prepay, and get $.5 off per gallon.
$2.85ish in 19465 - SE PA
@enm4r: The few stations I got gas @ were in the NW burbs.
What I'm getting at is that I paid about $2.80/gal 5 years ago when I owned a car a commuted. If gas prices only increased $.20 in 5 years, that's not that bad.
It's $2.25 in Augusta, GA
2.49 here in STL yesterday.
Why is it that I had to pay 2.73 for premium for my VW GTI (for best results, VW recommends 91 or better for the 2.0T) when it used to be that the difference between grades was always 10 cents? It used to be 2.49/2.59/2.69.
A difference of 4 cents isn't a big deal, so I'm just wanting to know what's with the weird grade price staggering.
@yg17: It was 2.49/gal for regular at the Shell on Manchester between Hanley and Brentwood. That's where I filled up yesterday.
Don't know if it's still at that price.
For any New Englanders out there -- I've been getting my gas at Stop & Shop lately. The one in my town has a gas station. The prices are the lowest that I've seen in the area. And then if you use your S&S card (yeah, evil customer cards, I know), you get a discount -- 5 cents off regular & plus, and 10 cents off of super.
And no, I'm not a shill for Stop & Shop -- I don't even do much of my grocery shopping there. But that's where I'm filling up the car these days.
Looks like all of those forwarded "Don't buy gas" emails finally worked. We'll show 'em, and bring those companies to their knees!
@acambras:
There is no one market for gas. The only real way to do it is by zip code. For example gas one side of my town (pop. ~70,000) will often be 5-10 cents cheaper than the other side (for the same brand). Similarly driving two cities over (10 miles) will net you ges that is on average 15 cents cheaper.
Whoever comes up with the pricing formulas is on crack IMO.
It feels weird to live in San Diego and know that I don't have the highest gas prices by any means. My Chevron down the street is $2.79 and when I was in Orange County this past weekend was seeing it regularly at $2.75 or so. I've also been impressed that it has not gone up at all in well over a month
@Buran: because they can
I miss good cheap Georgia gas.
South Carolina gas is only marginally more expensive. $2.55 here in Charleston.
Although Chicago is expensive, right outside of Chicago (like Indiana, Michigan, maybe even Wisconsin) are much cheaper. Just an hour outside of Chicago, in Indiana, you can pay $2.65 a gallon, which is a lot cheaper than some other suburban areas.
Not that I'm happy about having to drive an hour for that price, but the point is, you can get gas at a price closer to the other major mets if you work at it.
I get a kick out of the fact that I live next to the most expensive gas station in Chicago (the BP @ Armitage and California), which is de facto the most expensive gas station in the country.
And my car takes premium. Lucky me!
I thought our illustreous President was looking into the problem. What ever happened with that?
They must mean in the city limits of Chicago. I'm in a suburb and just filled up for $2.85 last night.
I'm a Chicago Suburban resident. Our gas is always higher, for one reason. The outrageous taxes from the State (20 cents), the City (5 cents) and the County (6 cents). The current sales tax in Chicago is nearly 10%. Take a look at [www.chicagogasprices.com]
Our new budget calls for higher sales taxes soon in Cook and surrounding counties come January.
I don't know how much longer I want to feed the Monster (State/County)here. Nashville has a better business attitude and climate in general.
@acambras: the ghetto - excuse me, getty - gas station down from my house does 5 cents off every wednesday. that made 87 $2.88 last wednesday - should be cheaper this week.
& i dunno about that "one market" comment. gas is still ~$3.25 on the gold coast.
@mac-phisto:
Yeah, but we don't really count the Gold Coast -- Fairfield County is really just an extension of Westchester, right? ;-)
I live in Wallingford and work in Middletown, and prices in both those towns and between are fairly consistent. New Haven is more expensive, though, and Hartford probably is too.
@bluegus32: The last time he went looking for something, we ended up with 3,000 of our soldiers dead, hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians dead, and a country in ruins. I'd rather him not look for this problem...
Oh wait.....that is the problem! Silly me.
@hwyengr: I get a kick living right next to a refinery paying the absolute lowest in the country :D Yay for lack-of-mileage surcharge.
@acambras: i live/work in the litchfield hills, so as long as i stay away from the i84 corridor, my gas is usually the cheapest in the state. :)
You missed the San Francisco Bay Area market, which is typically pretty high. According to sanfrangasprices.com, prices for 87 in the city range from $2.79 (at Costco) to $3.69.
We're NUMBER ONE!!!
Whoo hoo!
/I don't drive.
I'm in the SW suburbs of Chicago - it's $2.86-$2.90 or so here.
@bluegus32:
Yeah that's all he did was "look" and scratch his ass, I mean his head.
The cheapest gas I have seen in the Austin area is $2.59
Woohoo, my first flickr/Consumerist photo! This puppy was on Irving Park Road next to the Blue line station about a month ago. The station across the street was about 20 cents a gallon cheaper though. No wonder everyone I know in Chicago doesn't bother owning a car.
Just paid $2.48 a couple hours ago. St Louis FTW! (Shell station on Hwy 94 and Beckman road in case any St Louisans, or St. Charlesians rather, are wondering)
Um gas is $3.35 where I am in Connecticut, and that's a good price.
@forever_knight: Uhm, that doesn't answer my question. Thanks for playing. Try again.
@Buran: Um, I don't think the oil and gasoline companies have ever had a valid reason for the ridiculous prices other than "because we can"
Check gasbuddy.com for gas prices all over the US. They usually have sites for bigger cities, and if not, you can get prices by county. They are all user submitted, observed prices, and have the address and the date/time of the price. Good stuff.
Um ... I hate contradict the headline, but one gallon of regular is $3.58 on Maui -- it was $3.62 for the longest time and the price just went down last week. Perhaps someone should check all US states before declaring who has the highest prices.
The cheapest I have been able to find gas on Long Island this week is $2.85.
Gas prices on Long Island are quite ranging and don't really make much sense.
I've seen it as little as $2.85 and as much as $3.15.
$2.61 at BJ's yesterday in Leominster, MA. Best price I saw elsewhere in town was $2.67. It's definitely by zip code, though. In Bolton, two town over and much higher tax bracket, it's still $2.99 next to the highway exit, and I'm sure it's just because they can.
I just put gas in at $2.29 at a kroger here in Mississippi.
Gasoline is trending down and cheaper in absolute and much cheaper in adjusted dollars than last year at this point.
I mean real national averages reported up to yesterday. Not just local POS.
Oh how horrifically expensive that Chigaco gas is. Try paying more than double that like we Brits do. £0.95/litre = $1.80/litre = $6.67/gallon.