How Painful Are Your Gas Prices, Really?

This map from GasBuddy.com provides a nice visual comparison of gasoline prices across the United States.  As Telstar Logistics already knows, prices in California are high.  What you can't see here -- but which we also know --is that gas prices in the city of San Francisco are the highest in the nation.  Not that we're complaining. Not at all. We love high gasoline prices, after all. We really do.

Even more interesting, however, is a graph that shows average gasoline prices internationally. Because if you think filling up is painful in the U.S., just be thankful you're not doing it in Europe or Japan.  This chart from the US Energy Information Administration isn't as nifty to look at, but it tells a clear story.  That blue-green line way down at the bottom?  That's the United States:

There's a sobering discussion about international gasoline prices in the comments here.  Right now, apparently, gas is about $5.60 a gallon in Japan, and $8.12 in England. As one of our associates notes, "$8.64 for a US gallon of diesel over here [in England]. That $4.39 [in the U.S.] seems quite cheap to me."

(Hat tip: Wired Science)

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Comments

[mig]

In Mexico City the price is 2.59 US dollars per gallon.

[Mike Harney]

The reason US prices are so low, comparatively, is not magic or even that more than a third of US-consumed oil originates in the US; instead, it's that other countries have much higher petrol tax rates. The UK is at the top of the heap because about 55% of their total price is "road fuel duty" + VAT (yes, more tax than product), while in the US, the portion that goes to state and federal taxes is about 15%. It varies by state, and that's why Wyoming's so green on that map -- they've got the lowest state gasoline tax in the country.

[anon]

Don't forget America is:

1) Much larger.
2) More spread out.
3) Has less public transportation options.

So, I wonder how the average miles driven vary around the world. The "average" American drives their vehicle 15,000 miles per year.