Gasoline prices: the regional gap

West Coast regular gasoline was 3.839 on 2025-01-01, versus 2.677 on the Gulf Coast, per FREDfred.stlouisfed.org fred.stlouisfed.org). The sourced data point to regional dispersion first, with the current dataset not isolating state-by-state tax effects.

West Coast regular gasoline averaged 3.839 on 2025-01-01, the clearest live marker for why pump prices can diverge so sharply across states, per FRED fred.stlouisfed.org. Against that, the Gulf Coast was 2.677, the East Coast 3.033, the Midwest 2.942, the Rocky Mountain region 2.902, and the national average 3.076 on 2025-01-01fred.stlouisfed.org fred.stlouisfed.org fred.stlouisfed.org fred.stlouisfed.org fred.stlouisfed.org). That pattern is consistent with gasoline pricing as a set of regional basis markets rather than a single national tape: refinery mix, local fuel specifications, and transport constraints all sit on top of the crude input, while the sourced evidence here does not isolate state-by-state tax effects. WTI was 70.62 on 2024-01-02 and 72.97 on 2024-01-03 in FRED's crude series fred.stlouisfed.org, so crude moved, but the regional spread suggests more is going on than a single national oil price. AAA's live state-average page gasprices.aaa.com and EIA's weekly retail release page eia.gov are the primary-source places to watch. If those regional prints start converging while crude stays firm, the read shifts toward a broader national price move rather than local basis.