Falling Gas Prices: A State-by-State Look

Hurricane Sandy made its way up the East Coast last week, but gas prices have been moving in the opposite direction. In fact, prices at the pump dropped more in the past two weeks than they have since the 2008 crisis.

Today, the national average price of a gasoline sits at $3.47 — slightly higher than it was a year ago, but more than 30 cents lower than it was a month ago. And from Oct. 19 to Nov. 2, gas prices dropped just less than 21 cents.

Why? Well, lower crude prices and Hurricane Sandy have both played a role. While the storm forced many to line up for gas, those folks were mostly unable to travel. Plus, travel tends to decline in the winter, anyways. On top of that, recently spiking prices in California leveled out.

As usual, prices are the highest in hard-to-reach states, but even prices in Hawaii — the most expensive state of all — are nearly 20 cents cheaper than they were at the start of October. And last month, even the cheapest states had to pay more than $3.50 per gallon. Now, Southern states are enjoying quite a discount from those numbers. Experts don’t expect upward movement anytime soon, either.

Below is a state-by-state roster of average gas prices from AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report, listed from most to least expensive: