BALTIMORE, MD—For the second straight week, the nation’s average price of gasoline has climbed, rising 4.3 cents from a week ago to $3.12 per gallon this week according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

The national average is up 4.0 cents from a month ago and 32.5 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has risen 3.0 cents in the last week and stands at $3.92 per gallon—69 cents lower than one year ago.

“A majority of states again saw average gasoline prices rise over the last week, pushed slightly higher by oil prices that had risen to multi-month highs. While most states saw price increases, they were somewhat tame, though the trend will likely begin to accelerate toward the end of the month. For now, the most common gas price in the U.S. remains $2.99 per gallon, but its days are numbered,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “While Southern California is already beginning the transition to summer gasoline, and with it, higher prices, we could see a brief ‘clearance sale’ on remaining winter gasoline in some pockets of interior states as refiners start to move these time-sensitive barrels out of the system. Motorists shouldn’t be fooled into thinking any drop in prices is a long-term trend, but rather a very short-term one. I expect any modest and temporary drops in prices will be replaced by pricier gasoline as we get closer to the start of spring.”

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $2.99 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $3.09, $2.89, $2.79, and $3.19 rounding out the top five most common prices. The median U.S. gas price is $2.99 per gallon, up 3 cents from last week and about 13 cents lower than the national average. The top 10% of stations in the country average $4.33 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $2.60 per gallon. The states with the lowest average prices: Oklahoma ($2.62), Wyoming ($2.69), Colorado ($2.72). The states with the highest average prices: Hawaii ($4.69), California ($4.53), and Washington ($3.89).

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