The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Wednesday hit $3.85 in Lehigh County and $3.80 in Northampton, for a valleywide average of $3.82, according to daily survey data published by AAA. That is a jump of 73 cents over the last month, a 23.5% increase, putting the region in the unusual spot of being among the most expensive places in Pennsylvania to gas up.
The statewide average was $3.80, with prices ranging from $3.53 in Fulton County, in south central Pennsylvania, to $3.90 in Philadelphia, bucking recent trends that had the eastern part of the state being the cheapest, and getting progressively more expensive as one travels toward the Ohio border.
In real terms, that means a person will spend $57.30 to put 15 gallons of regular gas in their tank, an increase of $3.06 since last week, and $10.92 more than a month ago. That same tank of gas would cost $58.31 in Reading, which may be some low-octane solace for local consumers.
The national price per gallon is $3.84, making Pennsylvania the 14th most expensive state among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. On the East Coast, only Florida is more expensive. The West Coast has the most expensive gas in the nation, with California averaging $5.56, almost 1.5 times the local price.
Prices in New Jersey average $3.75 per gallon, a nickel cheaper than in Pennsylvania. Warren County, directly across the Delaware River from Northampton County, averaged $3.76 Wednesday, four cents cheaper than Northampton’s price. Cape May County is the most expensive place to gas up in the Garden State, at $3.89 per gallon.
Getting crude
The automobile club notes that this is the time of year when prices generally see a seasonal rise, as more drivers hit the road, and refiners switch over to more expensive summer formulations. The final pump prices are about where they were in spring 2024. But the largest factor in the price of gas remains the price of the crude oil from which it is distilled.
The price per barrel of Brent crude topped $100 several times over the past few days, higher than the $91.04 per barrel price recorded two years ago, and is inching toward $110, even as governments around the world are releasing strategic oil reserves to compensate partly for the oil no longer coming from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.
So far, the world oil disruptions have not affected the output of U.S.-based blenders and refiners, according to data from the U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration. The daily output of finished motor gasoline is at 9.9 million barrels per day, which is slightly higher than the 9.6 million barrel average of the last two years.
While the price of crude is likely to stay high in the near future, it is uncertain how high it may go. The highest price in the last five years was $133.18 recorded in March of 2022, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis.
The EIA updates its weekly reports each Monday. AAA publishes its gas pump survey results daily.