Gas prices are only going up.
According to the AAA, Alabama is seeing one of the fastest price increases per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the nation. The fortune hit an all-time high earlier this week, and the record continues to fall.
As of Friday, the average Alabama had to shell out $4.16 a gallon, three cents more than the previous day. The cost of a gallon is up more than 50 cents in the last week and nearly a dollar in the last four weeks. As of Friday, gasoline in Alabama was $1.57 more per gallon than at the same time last year. This means it could cost $20 more to refill your tank than it did a year ago.
Gas prices in Alabama are rising along with the rest of the country as Russia’s war in Ukraine has combined with the already rising prices of many consumer goods to create the perfect gas station storm.
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Federal data from the US Energy Information Administration shows just how much price increases consumers have seen over the past few weeks. EIA data shows the country’s average weekly cost per gallon at the start of this week was $4.10, perilously close to an all-time high since the data was tracked. The record of $4.11 per gallon was set in July 2008.
AAA data shows that the record is likely to fall soon. AAA data, which is updated daily, shows a national average of $4.33 as of Friday. This is much higher than the record weekly high tracked by the Energy Information Administration.
And in some states, average prices are much higher.
The average price per gallon of regular gasoline in California was a whopping 5.72 cents as of Friday, with many West Coast states topping the list of most expensive gallons.
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But in many of these areas, gas was already expensive, and in Alabama and several other states, prices began to decline and are rising much faster.
Average gas prices in Alabama are up 15% in the last week, 29% in the last month and a staggering 61% in the last year. All these figures are in the top ten in the country, with a monthly increase of 29% ranked first.
Appearance by county
There is a significant gap in average gas prices when moving to the county level, according to the AAA. As of Friday, the difference between the most expensive and cheapest gallons in the state was nearly 30 cents.
Residents of many rural districts pay more for gas. Six of the seven counties with the most expensive gallons are in the Black Belt, one of the state’s poorest regions.
Bibb County, a black belt by some definitions, leads the state at $4.30 a gallon. Meanwhile, Marengo County, which is also in the Black Belt, was averaging $4.03 a gallon as of Friday, the lowest price in Alabama.
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Do you have an idea for an Alabama data story? Email Ramsey Archibald at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter. @RamseyArchibald. Read more stories about data from Alabama here.