Gas prices have skyrocketed across the country, but nowhere are they feeling the pain at the pump more than in Los Angeles where one station posted prices above $8 per gallon Tuesday. The Chevron station in Downtown Los Angeles priced a gallon of regular unleaded at $8.05.
In California, the average price for a gallon of gas is $6.19. The national average for regular gasoline climbed by five cents on Wednesday to a fresh record of $4.67 a gallon, according to AAA. That leaves gas prices up by 48 cents in the past month alone.
It now costs 32% more to fill up your tank than on the day before Russia invaded Ukraine. Seven states now average $5 or higher, with Illinois becoming the latest to join that unpopular club, according to AAA. New York and Arizona are just pennies away from the $5 threshold.
“In addition to the price of oil, other factors include the competitive conditions in the marketplace, the higher cost to produce gasoline to the specifications required by the California Air Resources Board, costs associated with fuel distribution, local, state and federal taxes, California carbon-compliance costs, recent inflationary pressures, and fixed costs of doing business that are often higher in California relative to other states (e.g., the cost of commercial real estate),” Chevron said in a statement.