Gas Price Update: These States Are Seeing the Biggest Drop At the Pump

California saw the largest drop in gas prices in the U.S. over the past week as the cost of gasoline has fallen on average across the nation.

In the last seven days, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California dropped from about $6.20 to $5.88—roughly 32 cents, according to data from AAA.

The national average price of gas in the U.S. is currently $3.84, a 7-cent decrease over the last seven days.

In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson for AAA noted that demand for gasoline is down compared to one year ago.

"Coupled with fluctuating oil prices, low demand has contributed to the national average moving downward. If demand continues to remain low, as oil prices slide, drivers should see pump price increases slow and decreases grow through the weekend," the spokesperson said.

Victor Claar, an associate professor of economics at Florida Gulf Coast University, said in an interview with Newsweek on Thursday that as gas prices have fallen, "the good news is we're figuring out how to source oil from multiple places."

"Even when we're not in a pandemic, there are always supply chain constraints on oil...And I think that we're discovering now that there's less uncertainty about both supply and demand, and when there's less uncertainty normally then prices tend to moderate a little bit," Claar said.

The decrease in gas prices also comes as President Joe Biden announced this week that the U.S. is selling the remaining 15 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve that had been part of the 180 million barrels of oil the administration announced it was releasing in March to help offset high prices.

Claar noted that Americans alone typically use 20 million barrels of oil every day and that he doesn't expect the move will have a major impact on gas prices.

"And so a one-time sell off of 15 million barrels isn't going to mean a significant difference in terms of the market price of something like a gallon of gas," he said.

Outside of California, drivers in Oregon saw the second biggest drop in gas prices, which saw a 26-cent drop: from $5.46 per gallon to $5.20.

Alaska saw the third largest downward trend in prices with a 22-cent drop to $5.30 per gallon, and Washington ranked fourth with average prices sitting at $5.13: a 21-cent difference compared to last week.

The remaining states that experienced the biggest drops in gas prices include:

• Nevada, (20 cents),
• Wisconsin (18 cents),
• Michigan (15 cents),
• Indiana (14 cents),
• Ohio (13 cents) and
• Arizona (12 cents).