---
title: "Thanksgiving drivers may pay less for gasoline than last year"
description: "The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline across the U.S."
date: "2013-11-25"
authors:
  - name: "Drew DeSilver"
    job_title: "Senior Writer/Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/drew-desilver/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/11/25/thanksgiving-drivers-may-pay-less-for-gasoline-than-last-year/"
categories:
  - "Climate, Energy & Environment"
  - "Energy"
---

# Thanksgiving drivers may pay less for gasoline than last year

Although gas prices have begun inching higher, the [38.9 million Americans](http://newsroom.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/6-Thanksgiving_2013_Final.pdf) who are projected to hit the highways this week for Thanksgiving travel likely will have a cheaper holiday drive than the past few years.

The average price of regular gasoline was [$3.2517 a gallon as of Nov. 22](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-24/u-s-gasoline-increases-to-3-2517-a-gallon-in-lundberg-survey.html), according to the latest survey by market-research firm Lundberg Survey. While that's up 3.46 cents over the previous two weeks, a year ago this time a gallon of regular cost on average about $3.47.

[![gasoline_prices](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/11/gasoline_prices.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2013/11/gasoline_prices.png)

The Lundberg data, which come from a survey of about 2,500 filling stations across the lower 48 states, track closely with the Energy Information Administration's [weekly pump-price survey](http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/). Both surveys found that gas prices have declined steadily since Labor Day.

Pump prices are the result of several interacting, and not always predictable, factors, among them crude-oil prices, seasonal reformulations, refinery capacity in different regions and driver demand. This Thanksgiving's gas prices are the lowest since 2010, when the national average price for a gallon of regular was $2.876, according to the EIA.

As of Nov. 18, according to the EIA, gas was most expensive on the West Coast ($3.467 for a gallon of regular) and cheapest on the Gulf Coast ($3.004 for a gallon of regular). (The EIA will update its data later today at 5 p.m. Eastern time.)