San Francisco Bay Area drivers are celebrating an early holiday gift: Gasoline prices have tumbled an average of $1.80 per gallon in the last two months.
The Standard’s 2022 Data Dive looked back at how the price per gallon for regular gasoline has changed over the course of the year. After hitting a peak of $6.40, the city recorded an average gallon price of $4.60 for the first week of December—the exact same level recorded during the first week of the year.
Prices for all consumer goods went through the roof in 2022—hitting a 40-year high, nationally—and a lot of that jump was due to gas prices. Inflation was a major concern for consumers and politicians all year, as high prices for gas and other goods were a big vote driver at the ballot box in November.
Though San Francisco was saved from the worst inflationary levels because of its already-high housing costs and lower dependence on gasoline, a breather from paying $6 and even $7 per gallon is happy news—especially since Californians had endured a second October peak in high gas prices due to the state’s unique low-emissions oil refining.
This week, prices around San Francisco and the Bay Area have dropped considerably. A check of GasBuddy shows a handful of spots in Marin and Alameda counties have dipped below $4 per gallon and a larger batch in Solano County. But the Bay Area’s king of cheap gas is Concord, with 10 stations selling gas under $4 right now.
The cheapest gas in San Francisco right now is at the ARCO on Mission Street, where a gallon is currently $4.11.