Gas Prices in 2010

The 2010 average was $2.78, 42.9¢ above 2009 and 16.3% higher after inflation. Most of that increase reflects the low start to 2009 rather than any rise within 2010: the monthly average stayed between $2.64 and $2.86 from January through November, one of the narrowest ranges in the weekly series.

The year’s low was $2.61 in the week of February 15. There was no large spring or summer peak; the largest weekly decline, 7.8¢, came in late May, and prices were slightly lower in summer than in spring. The movement came at the end of the year, as crude oil prices rose with the economic recovery. The largest weekly increase, 10.2¢, came in the week of December 6, and the year’s high, $3.05, was its final week, December 27, the first weekly figure above $3.00 since October 2008. The New York Harbor wholesale price averaged $2.10 a gallon, up from $1.67 in 2009, which accounts for most of the increase in the pump price.

Against 2005, the year of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the 2010 average was 22.6% higher in current dollars and 9.7% higher after inflation. Measured from 2000 the rise was much larger: 87.5% in current dollars and 48.0% in real terms.

Adjusted for inflation, 2010’s $4.11 was almost exactly the level of 2006 ($4.11), and the two years stand next to each other in the long-run ranking, with 2010 12th of the complete years since 1970. In unadjusted dollars 2010 ranks 12th, the same position on both measures. The year stayed below 2008’s average throughout: its highest week, $3.05 on December 27, 2010, was still below the 2008 annual average of $3.25, while its lowest, $2.61 on February 15, 2010, sat above the 2009 average of $2.35.

Hawaii ($3.38) and Alaska ($3.38) had effectively the same all-grades average in EIA’s state estimates for 2010, the highest of any state and 64.4¢ above the U.S. figure. Washington was a distant third at $2.99. Georgia had the lowest at $2.54, with South Carolina next at $2.57.

The 2009 national average was $2.35, and the 2010 average rose 18.2% from it at the pump, or 16.3% in constant 2025 dollars. The 2011 average of $3.52 rose 26.6% from 2010 at the pump, or 22.7% in constant 2025 dollars.

The U.S. average in 2000 was $1.48 at the pump. The 2010 figure in constant 2025 dollars, $4.11, rose 48.0% from the 2000 level. The highest annual average in constant 2025 dollars across 1970–2025 was $5.08, recorded in 2012.

In the weekly series, 2010 has 52 weeks of EIA data, and the highest and lowest weekly prices differ by 44.4¢.

The state figures are EIA State Energy Data System annual averages for all grades. In 2010, Georgia was the cheapest at $2.54, while Alaska and Hawaii were the most expensive at $3.38. The difference between the highest-priced and lowest-priced state was 84.0¢, and 28 of 51 states, counting D.C., had a 2010 average above the U.S. average on that basis.