Here’s a chart from a recent Star Tribune article about the price of gasoline. It’s not a great chart, but you can look at it anyway:
First, here’s the article’s main point, which is about how price per gallon has dipped below $2:
The lowest price anywhere in Minnesota on Thursday was $1.88 per gallon at the Sam’s Club in Sartell, according to GasBuddy. At least nine other Minnesota stations had prices at or below $1.91 per gallon, several of which were in the Red Wing and St. Cloud areas.
The average price in the Twin Cities on Thursday was $2.13 per gallon, while the national average was $2.25 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.
Motor vehicle fuel purchases made up about $2,000 or 3.3 percent of the average U.S. household’s expenditures in 2017, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Falling gas prices give consumers a bit of an economic cushion, just as soaring prices pinch a household’s budget.
The problem with this chart is that it zooms in on a tiny fraction of time (2 years) and price ($2-$3).
To me, it’s much more interesting to think about gas prices over the long term, and accounting for inflation, etc. We’ve done this many times at streets.mn over the years.
For example check these out.
The Inflation Adjusted gas price chart, 1918-2012:
Historical and projected gas prices 1985 – 2039:
Gas price vs. real wage, 1975 – 2015:
My favorite kind of analysis, though, looks at how much of the “true cost” of driving car is reflected in the gas price. The answer is “very little”.
One of the priorities of Governor Walz’s administration is to pass a gas tax increase this year.