As Halloween nears, there is something more scary to motorists than any ghouls or goblins that might be creeping around the corner, and that is the average price of regular gasoline in Massachusetts. And prices here in the Berkshires are just about in line with those scary pump prices.

According to AAA Northeast, the Massachusetts average gas price is up 8 cents from last week, when it was $3.27 per gallon. The current state price is averaging $3.35 per gallon. 

The non-profit auto club says that the price is 26 cents higher than it was a month ago and $1.25 higher than it was a year ago at this time when the price was $2.10 per gallon. The state's average gas price is 3 cents lower than the national average, but the price has risen across the country for 27 consecutive days. 

Demand is high and supply is low...

With the U.S. economy slowly recovering from the depths of the pandemic, demand for gas is robust, but the supply is tight,” says... We haven’t seen prices this high since September of 2014. ~ Mary Maguire, Director of Public/Government Affairs

 

The high demand and tight supply is coupled with elevated crude prices. 

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The AAA website lists the average prices in the metro areas of all states, including Massachusetts. You can see the list HERE. Pittsfield is the one local city that is listed. According to AAA, the average Pittsfield price for regular gas is $3.33 per gallon, which is roughly 2 cents lower than the state's average. Mid-grade gasoline is equal to the state average at $3.35, and if you put premium gas in your tank in Pittsfield, you will be paying nearly $3.38 per gallon.

The scary thing is that this trend isn't showing any sign of slowing down. At this rate, by the time we hit the road for our Thanksgiving destinations, we will likely be paying much more.

Let's hope not.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

 

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