The Internet Has Gas

With gasoline prices remaining so high year-round, is it any wonder that there just might be a lot of good information about the subject on the Internet? I thought it might be of interest for you to have a list of some of the better gasoline websites and perhaps help you find the lowest prices.

My favorite gasoline-related Web site Washingtongasprices.com. Obviously its only good if you live in this state, but if you do, you will find the local gas prices for your city quite easily. Local volunteers report their prices and a price can only stay on the site for 48 hours, so you are assured of getting current information. For instance, for my hometown of Ephrata, that page shows prices at four different gas stations.

My next favorite site is actually a single page on GasBuddy.com. The page shows a county-by-county color-coded map of the United States. Here you can see in vivid detail how gasoline prices vary greatly, not only state-by-state, but also county-by-county. In looking at the map today, it looks like my Grant County is the second lowest priced county in Washington State, behind only Spokane. Hooray for us! But we are still way ahead of much of the country in expensive gas.

To get another look at gas prices on a less detailed regional basis, check out the US map on fuelcalculator.com. It’s broken out into regions with their average gas prices. For instance, today the West Coast average price is $2.51, whereas the Midwest average price is $2.00.

If you want to understand the rhyme and reason of the disparity of prices, take a look at the special web page on the howstuffworks.com web site. Here you will find a concise explanation of gasoline pricing, why fuel prices are so high, how the per gallon price is apportioned, and the historical gas price history, adjusted for inflation.

MSN also has a gas price web site where you can enter your zip code and see the local prices. I don’t like it as much as Washingtongasprices.com as it sometimes a few days behind and the two lowest priced station in my city are not even listed.

Gasbuddy.com, mentioned earlier, is also a good web site for checking out gas prices across the nation. Washingtongasprices is an offshoot of gasbuddy.

If you know of any other good gasoline-related Web sites that are interesting, please send them along.