National gasoline price average drops under $2

In California, where prices are highest, she says a gallon of regular averages $2.61, with midgrade costing $2.74 and premium at $2.83.

“AAA estimates that cheaper gas prices have saved Americans more than $115 billion on gasoline so far this year, which works out to more than $550 per licensed driver”.

The report says over two-thirds of gas stations are selling gasoline at $1.99 or less.

The average price in Cleveland is $1.85, down about 6 cents over the last week.

The last time that happened was April 28, 2009 – a day swine flu was on the rise, Bruce Springsteen played at the Spectrum and the nation was still in the throes of the Great Recession.

Low gas prices may lift most of the economy, but the improvement is uneven.

Analysts expects prices to continue to fall over the next month as refineries operate near full capacity and flood the gasoline market.

The national average price of gas is about 41 cents and the OR average is 35 cents less than a year ago.

“And on top of that, some of the highest regulations for environmental reasons, so that just equals more expensive gas, unfortunately”, he said.

GasBuddy.com calculated a sub-$2 national average slightly earlier on December 19.

The last time the national average selling price of gas was below $2 occurred on March 25, 2009.

According to AAA Carolinas, “Prices are expected to continue their decline through the start of 2016, due to an abundant supply domestically and less people driving during the winter months”.

So how low are gas prices?

Average pump prices in Chicago are running higher, at $2.31 per gallon in the city and about $2.12 per gallon across the metro area.

The national average for premium was at $2.50 a gallon on Monday, and diesel was at $2.36.

Thirty states now have an average price below $2 and another five states will likely join them within days.