Chart of the Day: Gas Prices Falling, Merry Xmas

At the national level, retail gas prices have fallen by 17% from the April high of about $4 per gallon to the current national average of about $3.28 (red line in chart above), according to price data from GasBuddy.com.  In Albuquerque, New Mexico, gas prices have fallen about 25% from the April peak and are currently the lowest in the country at $2.80 per gallon (see blue line and national gas price heat map here).   

It's an early Christmas present for U.S. consumers, who save about $1.35 billion annually (updated, see below) for every one cent decrease in gas prices.

Update 1: Gasoline consumption is currently averaging about 377.1 million gallons per day, or 135,450,000,000 gallons per year, according to data from the EIA.  Each one cent per gallon change in gasoline prices would translate into an annual change of about $1.35 billion for total spending on gas. 

Update 2: The chart below displays retail gas prices over the last 12 months, and shows that gas prices have increased 10.5% over the last year.  But the point I was making above is that most people don't think about what they were paying at the pump a year ago, they think more about: a) what they were paying a month ago, two months ago, three months ago, last summer, etc., and b) the recent trend in prices.  Now that we're in the holiday shopping season, I predict that the fact that gas prices are at their lowest levels since last February, and trending downward, will boost many consumers' spirits!