Cheap Gas: It's Location, Location, Location
April 23, 2006 — -- Gas costs more than $4 in some places in California. It's in the mid-two's in Utah. A gallon of gas at the average price is hard to find.
The country's retail gas prices jumped almost a quarter per gallon -- to $2.91 over the past two weeks, but the prices people pay vary widely according to location.
A map on the Web site Gasbuddy.com shows the price discrepancies. Red zones like California, New York, lower New England and the tip of Maine are high -- and green zones like the Mountain West have some of the lowest prices in the country.
"They actually produce oil, and they have access to pipelines that bring the product in, so they don't necessarily have higher costs just because they are landlocked," said Severin Bornstein, an energy expert from the University of California at Berkeley.
Not so in California, where about 60 percent of the oil comes from Alaska and foreign countries. The state's specially formulated gas costs 10 or 15 cents more per gallon. That is in addition to a tax of 50 cents a gallon.
"California not only has an excise tax on gasoline, they charge the regular sales tax on top of that," said Bornstein.
States with the highest taxes tend to have the highest gas prices. For example Hawaii's prices are higher by over 53 cents a gallon.
So far, most drivers say they have no choice but to pay for the more expensive gas.
"I think it's pretty high," said motorist Mark Tenser. "But I can't walk to work; I have to go to work."
But Gasbuddy.com has a national network of people reporting prices.
"You might not drive to another state, but often you can find cheaper gas in another neighborhood," said Dustin Coupal of Gasbuddy.com.
ABC News' Brian Rooney reported this story for "World News Tonight."
Trending Reader Picks
ABC News Live