The national average price for a gallon of regular gas on Friday is $3.153, a steady price overall for the market but representative of the slight fluctuations this week.

Friday’s fuel cost was slightly lower than Thursday’s, when it was $3.16 per gallon. Yet Thursday’s pricing was more expensive than Tuesday, when a gallon of regular gas averaged $3.14 nationally. Gas prices ended the week falling, but that falling price was one cent more expensive than earlier in the week. Moreover, on Monday, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas was $3.138, according to AAA.

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Gas prices have largely remained steady, however. A week ago, the average price for a gallon of regular gas was $3.156 and a month ago, it was $3.15. Moreover, despite this week’s price fluctuations, current gas prices remain substantially less expensive than a year ago, when the national average price for a gallon of regular gas was $3.441.

Fuel costs in the summer have avoided the seasonal gas price hike that traditionally happens after Memorial Day Weekend in May during the summer driving season. According to several analyses, the reason for this is that crude oil prices have hovered around $65 per barrel, according to AAA. During this time, the national average cost has hovered between $3.13 and $3.17. And July ended with an average of $3.15 per gallon, the cheapest average price for July in any year since 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Gas prices in July in previous years have not been as consumer-friendly. In July 2024, the average price for a gallon of regular gas was $3.60. In 2023, fuel costs were higher at $3.712 per gallon. In July 2022, gas prices were near record highs, the second-highest in the country’s history, at $4.668. Comparatively, in July 2021, the average cost for gas was $3.23.

Additionally, regarding gas prices, fuel cost analyses suggest a $3 per gallon cost as a reasonable price point today for evaluating fuel cost affordability in the country. With the price of gas decreasing in recent months, the number of states averaging less than $3 per gallon has increased. However, that has changed a few times over the last month.

On June 30, there were 21 states with statewide average gas prices under $3. In early July, it dropped to 20 states. In mid-July, it increased again to 22 states. On the penultimate day of July, it was back to 23 states, the most states with average gas prices under $3 per gallon since summer began. After a few days of increases, it dropped to 18 states earlier this month and earlier this week it increased to 20. On Friday, there are now 22 states with average gas prices under $3 per gallon.

As for prices around the U.S., different regions have different gas prices. The region of the country with the least expensive average gas prices is on or near the Gulf Coast. Conversely, those states with the most expensive average statewide gas prices are located on the West Coast.

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As has been the case for most of the last two years, Mississippi has the cheapest gas prices in the country at $2.697 per gallon. Next is Oklahoma, which, while not a state on the Gulf Coast, borders Texas on the coast, with an average price of $2.715. Tennessee is next at $2.747 per gallon, followed by Arkansas and Louisiana at $2.761.

Meanwhile, California remains the most expensive gas prices in the country, with a statewide average of $4.492 per gallon, slightly more expensive than Hawaii at $4.473. Next, was Washington at $4.407. Oregon is the state with the fourth-highest gas prices in the country, at $3.991 per gallon, followed by Alaska, host of today’s summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with a cost of $3.767.