BALTIMORE, MD—As Americans gear up for the start of the summer driving season with Memorial Day weekend, the nation’s average price of gasoline is unchanged from a week ago at $3.51 per gallon, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

The national average price of diesel has fallen 3.2 cents in the last week and stands at $3.94 per gallon.

“In the run-up to Memorial Day, the national average price of gas has seen little overall movement over the last week. We’ve seen more states see prices climb than fall, which has been driven by oil’s volatility as debt ceiling discussions are ongoing. I think we’ll see prices rise slightly as we get closer to Memorial Day, especially if there are positive developments in the debt ceiling discussions in D.C., while pessimism could drive prices slightly lower,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

“I continue to be optimistic that the national average will remain under $4 per gallon for most of, if not the entire summer, with Americans spending a combined $1.6 billion less on gasoline over Memorial Day weekend this year compared to last,” De Haan added.

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.39 per gallon, up 10 cents from last week, followed by $3.29, $3.49, $3.19, and $3.59 rounding out the top five most common prices.  The median U.S. gas price is $3.39 per gallon, unchanged from last week and about 12 cents lower than the national average.  The top 10% of stations in the country average $4.75 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $2.91 per gallon.  The states with the lowest average prices: Mississippi ($2.95), Texas ($3.03), and Louisiana ($3.05).  The states with the highest average prices: California ($4.76), Hawaii ($4.74), and Arizona ($4.63).

See previous gas price reports here

In the Baltimore metro area, the cheapest gas this week could be found at the following locations:

Photo via Pixabay