The Holiday Fill-Up: Gas prices begin to fall as holidays approach
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - When it comes to travel for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, AAA is estimating 49 million people will take to the roads.
In fact, almost 89 percent of all holiday travelers will be on the roads and if you're going to be among them - we've got good news.
The cost of your Thanksgiving dinner might be up, but what you'll pay to get to dinner will be down and as of recently, down a lot.
Our budgets have been getting hammered this year so it's good to hear gas prices are trending down.
"Gas prices now extended their decline into the eighth straight week [and] average gas prices in Pittsburgh [are] now about 3.69/gallon," said GasBuddy.com's Head of Petroleum Analysis, Patrick De Haan.
In fact, De Haan said that the wholesale price of gasoline in many regions is now at its lowest level since 2021.
"That's going to usher in the cheapest Thanksgiving since 2020," he said.
Pennsylvania's gas tax always keeps prices higher than everyone around us, but De Haan said there are some small signs of hope down the street.
"There are some stations now, just 20 cents/gallon away from reaching that $2.99 mark, in fact, I'm looking at Peters [Township] it's $3.05, the CostCo in Cranberry Township, it's $3.19," De Haan said.
Those pockets of value often may be the result of a membership, but that is a positive. If you're traveling to see grandma, say in Ohio, De Haan said to wait to fill up until you reach the Buckeye State.
"In fact, here in Youngstown, Ohio, it's under $3.02," he said.
In fact, with the exception of New York, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia all have plenty of prices below $3/gallon this Thanksgiving.
So, as De Haan has advised in the past, get enough gas to get to those states and then fill up, you could easily save 40 cents/gallon or more.
Now, does he think our prices are going down any time soon?
Probably not compared to the national average due to the gas tax, but he did say he's hopeful Pittsburgh gas could drop an average of 15-30 cents by the end of the year and it's already dropped about 30 cents/gallon since he made that same prediction in September.
