Pain At The Pump Felt More In Rural Areas
The rise in gas prices has been staggering. It took 25 years to go from $1 to $2 a gallon. But just two years to hit $3 a gallon. And two more to reach $4 a gallon.
Some parts of the country are feeling the pain a lot more than others, as CBS News Correspondent Hari Sreenivasan reports.
Brandi and Dallas Martin have good jobs. They like working at a call center in a small town in central Oklahoma. But with soaring gas prices, getting to work has been getting too expensive.
"In the last six months gas has gone up, we've constantly thought, man we've gotta find something that's closer, we don't have a choice," Dallas says.
The Martins drive 37 miles each way.
"And what kind of bite is that taking out of your paycheck?" Sreenivasan asks.
"A big one," Dallas says. "It takes about a one-fourth of our paychecks together."
The Martins aren't alone. Gas prices are hitting especially hard in rural America.
In the south and Midwest, where fuel prices are around $3.90 a gallon, the median income is only about $38,000 a year. Here fuel prices can eat up about 15 percent of a family's budget.
Compare that to the costs where fuel prices are higher, more than $4 a gallon, but so is take home pay. Fuel prices here are only about 4 percent of the family income
"The pain at the pump is definitely not spread evenly," says Tom Kloza, an oil industry analyst.
Kloza says rural areas, where long distances are common and mass transit is rare, are bearing the brunt of the gas prize squeeze.
"In the heartland the fuel price is probably more apocalyptic than on the coast, so this is going to hurt," Kloza says.
The problem was so bad, the Martins' employer started a fuel assistance program -- even awarding a cash bonus to employees based on how far they drive.
The program has allowed the Martins to keep their jobs. But for millions of other Americans the only relief at the pump is a remote hope that prices will ease sometime soon.