How much a gallon of gas costs today vs. 10 years ago

Steven John

Oct 28, 2019, 20:06 IST

How much a gallon of gas costs today vs. 10 years ago

Gerry Broome/AP

Prices for diesel gasoline haven't quite recovered from the 2008 recession.

The cost of gasoline is constantly fluctuating in the United States.
Ten years ago, the cost of gasoline was right around where it is today, but there have been several ups and downs in that time span.
Before the Great Recession, average gas prices were at an all-time high of $4.11, but have settled down to around $2.60 today.
Here is a timeline of the rise and fall of oil prices over the past decade.
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The price of gasoline affects everything and everyone.

As gas prices rise, shipping, travel, transportation, and commuting all become more expensive. And as gas prices fall, more money is left available to governments, transnational corporations, small businesses, and private citizens.

The price of gasoline can surge based on political or military conflict, natural or manmade disasters, and myriad other factors.

Despite the uncertainty associated with gasoline prices, the cost of a gallon of gasoline today is relatively similar to what it was 10 years ago, however, it's experienced some ups and downs in that time span. Read on to see how the cost of fuel has fluctuated over the last decade.

At the time of this writing, the national average cost of a gallon of gasoline is $2.64, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Flash backward a decade, and prices weren't all too different. The cost of gas had plummeted from an all time high of $4.11 per gallon in July 2008 to $2.57 by mid-October 2009 as the Great Recession unfolded.

By the end of that October, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel was $2.67, or about $3.08 in today's money, adjusting for inflation.

Even the cost of diesel fuel was impacted by the Great Recession, selling for $2.70 per gallon in October 2009.

But gas prices rose dramatically in 2011. From then until late 2014, the national average remained above $3 per gallon of regular gas. According to CNN Money, experts primarily blamed tensions with Iran and a resurgent global economy for the price hike.

Diesel costs spiked during this three-year window, at times costing well over $4 per gallon.

Even jet fuel saw an increase in cost from $1.94 per gallon in 2009 to a high of $3.23 per gallon in 2012.

As domestic oil prices remained high across the board from 2011 to 2014, the US surpassed both Russia and Saudi Arabia in the production of petroleum and natural gas, becoming the world's largest producer of natural gas in 2012 and petroleum in 2013.

By January 2019, the price of regular gasoline had fallen to $2.25 per gallon, resembling the low costs of nearly a decade prior.

Gas prices have ticked up since the beginning of the year, and are now sitting around $2.64 per gallon. While today's prices resemble the lows seen after the 2008 recession, diesel prices haven't quite recovered — selling today for $3.05.

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