The thing about gas prices

This weekend I went on a little road trip to Philadelphia. I had mistakenly fallen under the impression that gas was exorbitantly expensive all over the country, but it turns out it's just the state of New York.

The moment we crossed the state line into Pennsylvania, the prices started plummeting. When we left Buffalo on Thursday we paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.45 and by the time we settled in in Philadelphia we were seeing $2.70 and lower! It's amazing what crossing the state line can do. I had heard rumors of the elusive $2.00/gal, but now it seems it's even making a comeback on the East Coast!

Fortunately once we returned, prices have gotten a little kinder. Today I saw $2.99 just up the street from my house. $2.99! I never thought I would be so excited to see prices so low. To be fair, the average local price in Buffalo is still $3.12, but the City of Brotherly Love is seeing $2.47 and the nationwide average is at $2.58...

The Gas Map, courtesy of BuffaloGasPrices.com, indicates the average price in each county via gradients of colors. Green is good. Red is Bad. You'll notice a nasty red blotch where I'm living. Even New York City, our downstate neighborhood to the east, shows minimal redness. Kansas, my former home, has a nice, friendly green hue to it.




So why are Buffalo's gas prices still $0.54 above the national average? Don't just say taxes. I'm sure you can come up with something more creative than that.