--- title: A Gallon of Gas Costs $1.20 More Than It Did One Year Ago description: 'Gas prices keep rising in the fall 2021: A gallon of regular gas costs $3.36 on average nationally, compared to $2.16 at this time in 2020.' authors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2021-10-26T15:39:18.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T14:16:37.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Gas prices - News word_count: 478 canonical: https://money.com/gas-prices-update-2021/ 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/). ![Gas Pump In Front Of Increasing Bar Chart](https://img.money.com/2021/10/News-You-Will-Pay-Extra-On-Gas-This-Year.jpg) You're not the only one getting sticker shock at the gas pump lately: Americans are collectively spending at least $480 million more on [gasoline](https://money.com/why-are-gas-prices-high-2021/) per day now than they did last fall. That eye-popping number comes from Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at [GasBuddy](https://www.gasbuddy.com/), an app that tracks real-time gas prices at over 150,000 stations across the country. GasBuddy found that nationwide, the average cost for regular gas right now is about $3.36 per gallon. At this time last year, prices hovered around $2.16. The $480 million is a ballpark figure based on the premise that gas costs about $1.20 more today than in October 2020, and that Americans use roughly 400 million gallons of motor gasoline a day. There's some nuance, and not only because gas prices change every day. According to the U.S. [Energy Information Administration](https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=23&t=10), consumption actually fell to 338 million gallons per day last year due to the pandemic. If this fluctuation in consumption was accounted for, the difference would be nearly $614 million. Math aside, the trend generally tracks with what drivers everywhere are experiencing. In a Monday [news release](https://newsroom.aaa.com/2021/10/ghastly-gas-prices-haunt-consumers-at-the-pump/), AAA pointed out that fuel prices have increased every day for nearly a month. “With the U.S. economy slowly recovering from the depths of the pandemic, demand for gas is robust, but the supply is tight,” AAA's Andrew Gross said in the release. “We haven’t seen prices this high since September of 2014.” Expanding demand combined with the limited production of wholesale crude oil is pushing up the price of gas so drastically that even White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had to address the issue at a Friday briefing. "There are limitations to what any president can do as it relates to gas prices," she [said](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/10/22/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-october-22-2021/), adding that President Joe Biden is communicating with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and pushing the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate possible price gouging. The outcry around gas prices likely only going to climb as drivers hit the road for the holidays. Last winter, GasBuddy found that a third of people [planned](https://www.gasbuddy.com/newsroom/pressrelease/963) to take road trips to celebrate events like Christmas. The situation is in flux this holiday season, as well, with the [expected](https://media.hopper.com/research/2021-holiday-travel-guide-report) number of travelers both increasing and decreasing, depending on which [poll](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-10-07/holiday-travel-2021-covid-coronavirus) you're looking at and what's happening with the Delta variant of COVID-19 at any given moment. Wondering how to save money on gasoline? The Department of Energy [recommends](https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/saving-money-gas) you turn off your engine whenever you're parked for 10 seconds or more, drive at slower speeds, avoid weighing down your car, heed the check engine light and more. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-update-2021/#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": "A Gallon of Gas Costs $1.20 More Than It Did One Year Ago" } ] }, { "@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-update-2021/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/gas-prices-update-2021/", "name": "A Gallon of Gas Costs $1.20 More Than It Did One Year Ago", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2021-10-26T15:39:18.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-update-2021/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-update-2021/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T14:16:37.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "A Gallon of Gas Costs $1.20 More Than It Did One Year Ago", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2021/10/News-You-Will-Pay-Extra-On-Gas-This-Year.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-You-Will-Pay-Extra-On-Gas-This-Year" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Julia Glum", "url": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/#author", "description": "Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. 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