Memorial Day Fuel Prices to Reach $2 Average

The national average price for gasoline rose three cents to $1.87 for the start of the Memorial Day work week but is still near lows not seen during the same period of time since 2003 where the average price for fuel was $1.50 on average.

The last time the national gas price average leading into the holiday was under $2/gallon was 17 years ago, according to AAA. Americans can expect gas prices to continue to push more expensive, possibly hitting averages closer to $2 in the next few weeks, due to demand increasing as states re-open.

The nation’s largest weekly increases include Idaho (up 17 cents), Pennsylvania (up 8 cents), Wisconsin (up 7 cents), Iowa (up 7 cents), Colorado (up 7 cents), Kansas (up 7 cents), Maryland (up 6 cents), Utah (up 6 cents), Nebraska (up 5 cents) and Minnesota (up 5 cents).

The nation’s least expensive markets include Mississippi ($1.51), Arkansas ($1.52), Oklahoma ($1.52), Missouri ($1.54), Texas ($1.56), Alabama ($1.57), Kansas ($1.57), South Carolina ($1.60), Louisiana ($1.60) and Tennessee ($1.62).

For the first time in 20 years, AAA will not issue a Memorial Day travel forecast due to COVID-19 impacts on the underlying economic data used to create the forecast.