Michigan saw the largest year-over-year gas price increase of any state in the nation, up 56.6% in just one year.
This is according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. He said these increases nationally are having a real impact on the cost of living for Americans.
“Americans have just now hit a milestone: $71 billion more spent on gasoline since March 1 (vs a year ago),” De Haan said in a Tuesday analysis. “Adding $41 billion more on diesel costs since March 1 (vs a year ago) leads to a combined total additional cost of $116.1 billion.”
This comes as refinery issues, wars and pipeline outages affect both the global and domestic markets. The Midwestern states have been particularly hard hit by refinery issues, like a recent (and continuing) outage at the ExxonMobil Joliet Refinery in Illinois.
New Mexico, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and West Virginia followed Michigan in the top five states with the biggest gasoline spikes over the past year.
Nationally, the average price of gasoline in the U.S. is up 41% – or $1.30 a gallon – from one year ago.
On the diesel front, Texas, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Michigan and Mississippi saw the largest price increases in the past year. Texas saw an increase of 89.5%, while Michigan logged an 86.3% increase.
Nationally, the average price of diesel in the U.S. is up 77% – or $2.84 a gallon – from one year ago.
This comes after Michigan earlier this month saw the largest week-over-week increase in gasoline prices of any state, as previously reported by The Center Square.
On Wednesday, the current average for regular unleaded was $4.84 across Michigan. That is significantly higher than the national average, which comes in at $4.47 a gallon.
This is according to the latest data from AAA.
AAA said in its latest report that the nation could be heading towards breaking its annual record high, which was set on May 21 at $4.56.
“Gas prices are back to what they were earlier this year during the spring, and the national average is inching closer,” the report said. “The all-time high for the national average is $5.01 set on June 14, 2022.”
Compared to yesterday, the average from regular unleaded across Michigan is down very slightly, but has increased significantly from last week’s price of $4.54. A month ago, the average was $4.26 and a year ago it was $3.12.
That means drivers are paying more than $1.72 more per gallon today than they were a year ago.
Mid-grade fuel in Michigan currently averages $5.47 per gallon, while premium stands at $6.07. Diesel averages $6.89 per gallon, up from $3.20 a year ago.
Neighboring Indiana stands in sharp contrast to Michigan, consistently posting some of the nation’s lowest average gas prices. On Wednesday, Indiana had the second-to-lowest average price for regular unleaded at $3.98 per gallon-$0.86 less than Michigan’s average. Only Texas had a lower average.
A big reason for Indiana’s consistently low prices is the recent temporary suspension of its 7% Gasoline Use Tax and 36-cent Gasoline Excise Tax.
Nationally, California continues to have the highest average gas prices at $6.20 per gallon.