Filed under: Diesel, Etc., USA
USA National Gas Temperature Map
Nope, this isn't a map showing the temperature that gas flows out of the nozzle into our car's tank to boost the myth that it's better to fuel early in the morning. No, this is a U.S. map (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) that shows color-coded gasoline prices (by county): the redder the color, the more expensive the gallon of gas while the greener the color, the cheaper the gas is. If you go to the site and zoom in on the map, you can drill down to the municipality level. Zoom in again and you'll end up with color-coded gas stations. My search found gas over $4.20/gal for Regular gas in Washington state, and under $3.12 near Dallas. The interactive map lets you even choose four different fuel types: regular, medium, premium and diesel, although E85 and biodiesel additions would have been a nice touch. Thanks to John and Larry for the tip.
[Source: Gasbuddy]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
slk23 2:28PM (8/27/2008)
Obviously they charge what the local markets will bear; more affluent areas see higher prices. In California we have several refineries in L.A. and the San Francisco Bay Area. Yet we pay some of the highest prices for gasoline. Yes, we have higher taxes and the stations pay more for land, etc. But it always irks me that gas is so much cheaper in places like Kansas where it must be trucked in from a distant source.
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Chris MacMillan 3:55PM (8/27/2008)
I don't know how far with refineries are from SF and LA, but most of Kansas is only a six to eight hour drive from a refinery.
slk23 6:06PM (8/27/2008)
There are refineries within 30 miles of both L.A. and S.F.
If you don't like the Kansas example, here another: gas is cheaper in small towns on lonely highways in the middle of Nevada than it is here in the S.F. Bay Area. Much cheaper than can be accounted for by lower state gas taxes.
tankd0g 2:57PM (8/27/2008)
Hah, those closest to the oil are getting shafted the worst. I love the "free" market.
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Gordio 4:37PM (8/27/2008)
It's also funny the states that pay the least are the blue states.
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Gabe 4:44PM (8/27/2008)
That's why I love living in Dallas - awesome income-to-living-cost ratio (better than LA or New York), generally pro-business government, cheap land and energy, ethnic diversity, decent art scene (used to be a good music scene too), and no natural disasters except for dead presidents and cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Buzzzzzingg!
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meme 6:56PM (8/27/2008)
tankdog, Gordio: I don't get where either of you are coming from.
Tankdog: Most of the oil produced in the US is in Alsaka, the Gulf off of Texas and Lousiana, and onshore in places like Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and so on. Oil is mainly imported in terminals along the gulf coast. Refineries are mostly there, too. As for pipelines, the other element, here's a map:
http://images.pennnet.com/mapsearch/all_pipe.jpg
It's just as you'd expect, for the most part -- places that produce the most and are closest to major pipelines have the cheapest gas. There's some variation, of course, largely due to state and local laws.
Gordio: It's exactly the opposite of what you described. The cheap states are "Red states". The expensive states are "blue states". To break down the states in green, we have Texas (red state), Oklahoma (red state), Arkansas (red state), Mississippi (red state), Alabama (red state), South Carolina (red state), Tennessee (mild red state), Missouri (mild red state), Virginia (mild red state), and Iowa (tossup). The most expensive areas in the country are on the Pacific coast, which is one of the most liberal parts of the country, and solidly blue. The Rockies are historically red and are as expensive as liberal New York, but apart from this mostly having to do with geography, they're starting to trend more and more blue these days -- witness, for example, Obama leading in the Pollster composites in Colorado and Montana.
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Stephen 11:03PM (8/27/2008)
Some interesting correlations with the Red / Blue map of the states:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states
Are Democrat voting states being penalized with higher gas prices?
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