What Was the Highest Gas Price in US History?
American drivers had it rough back in 1981. The average price of gasoline spiked to $1.35 a gallon that year — up from $1.22 in 1980 and more than double the price just three years earlier. Adjusted for inflation, the average price of gas in 1981 would have equalled $2.42 a gallon in 2020.
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To which drivers in 2022 could only say: Give us that deal!
According to CNN Business, the price of gas at the pumps across the nation met an all-time-high average of $5.02 per gallon on June 14, 2022.
Prices soared at that time due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict — especially as the EU, whose consumption of Russian oil was around 40% of overall use, announced a speed up in the transition to alternative sources and fuels. As GOBankingRates previously reported, U.S. gas prices rose more than 45 cents per gallon since the onset of the conflict.
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Older drivers will remember a time when $5-a-gallon gas sounded like the stuff of science fiction. The average national price for a full year didn’t even push about $2 a gallon until 2005, according to the U.S. Inflation Calculator website. Prior to 2021, the yearly average exceeded $3 a gallon only five times: in 2008 and from 2011 to 2014.
The current average price across the U.S. — as of Aug. 9, 2023 — is $3.83 per gallon, per AAA.
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