--- title: Gas Prices Dropped Back Below $4 Faster Than Expected description: Gas prices in the U.S. dropped back below $4 a gallon, on average. Gas hit $3.99 faster than experts expected, falling $1 in two months. authors: - name: Sarah Hansen role: Senior Writer url: https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/ bio: Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. Previously, she covered economic policy and capital markets on the breaking news desk at Forbes. education: Northwestern University, New York University at_money_since: 2021 articles: 347 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-m-hansen/ former_staff: true published: '2022-08-11T13:51:21.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T17:37:14.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Gas prices - News word_count: 394 canonical: https://money.com/gas-prices-drop-below-4-fast/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Customer prepares to pump gas at a Chevron gas station](https://img.money.com/2022/08/News-Gas-Prices-Dropped-Fast.jpg?crop=0px%2C269px%2C3988px%2C2243px&quality=85) There’s more good news for drivers who are eager to [save money on gas](https://money.com/how-to-save-money-on-gas/?ref=/why-gas-prices-going-down-2022/). On average, the price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. dropped back below $4 this week. The national average hit $3.99 as of Tuesday, according to the price-tracking app GasBuddy, and auto club AAA reported that prices dipped under the $4 threshold on Thursday. Gas prices crossed back below the $4 threshold just a couple months after peaking at more than [$5 per gallon](https://money.com/gas-boycott-lower-gas-prices/) earlier this summer. The swift decline happened even faster than experts expected: Last month, GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick De Haan [predicted](https://twitter.com/GasBuddyGuy/status/1547268943445983238) prices would fall below $4 around August 14. In a [blog post](https://www.gasbuddy.com/go/399-gas) on Tuesday, De Haan said the wild swings in the price of gas this year are highly unusual. “We’ve never seen anything like 2022 at the pump,” he said, “highlighted by once-in-a-lifetime events including the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which caused myriad imbalances, exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine.” Those once-in-a-lifetime events pushed gas prices up at the [fastest pace ever recorded](https://money.com/gas-prices-rise-record-fast-pace/) over a three-week span, from $3.53 per gallon at the end of February to $4.32 in mid-March. Fuel costs remain very high in the grand scheme of things: At this point one year ago, gas prices were averaging roughly $3.19 nationally. ## Will gas prices go down more? Gas prices depend on a variety of factors, including the price of crude oil and demand from drivers. Oil prices have fallen from roughly $105 per barrel a month ago to about $92 per barrel today, and further declines could mean even [lower prices at the pump](https://money.com/why-gas-prices-going-down-2022/). “Oil is the primary ingredient in gasoline, so less expensive oil is helpful in taming pump prices,” Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson, said in a [blog post](https://gasprices.aaa.com/gas-prices-fall-but-not-enough-to-lure-drivers-back-to-the-pump/) on Monday. “Couple that with fewer drivers fueling up, and you have a recipe for gas prices to keep easing.” But there’s no guarantee. “While the recent drop in gas prices has been most welcomed, the issues that led to skyrocketing prices aren’t completely put to bed,” De Haan cautioned, “and still could lead prices to eventually climb back up, should something unexpected develop.” ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-drop-below-4-fast/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Gas Prices", "item": "https://money.com/gas-prices/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Gas Prices Dropped Back Below $4 Faster Than Expected" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-drop-below-4-fast/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/gas-prices-drop-below-4-fast/", "name": "Gas Prices Dropped Back Below $4 Faster Than Expected", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-08-11T13:51:21.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-drop-below-4-fast/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-drop-below-4-fast/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T17:37:14.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Gas Prices Dropped Back Below $4 Faster Than Expected", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/08/News-Gas-Prices-Dropped-Fast.jpg?crop=0px%2C269px%2C3988px%2C2243px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-Gas-Prices-Dropped-Fast" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Hansen", "url": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/#author", "description": "Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. 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