Today’s national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $2.89, up five cents from last week. One year ago, the price was $2.81. The New York State average is $2.96 – up seven cents from last week. A year ago, the NYS average was $2.94. AAA Western and Central New York (AAA WCNY) reports the following averages:

• Batavia - $2.84 (up 6 cents since last week)
• Buffalo - $2.87 (up 6 cents since last week)
• Ithaca - $2.90 (up 6 cents since last week)
• Rochester - $2.88 (up 6 cents since last week)
• Rome - $2.91 (up 7 cents since last week)
• Syracuse - $2.88 (up 7 cents since last week)
• Watertown - $2.95 (up 8 cents since last week)

The main reasons for the continuing increase in prices: lower domestic stock levels, the switchover to more expensive-to-produce summer blend gasoline and reduced gasoline production as a result of maintenance at refineries across the country. As a result, American motorists should expect increased pump prices as demand remains robust and stocks dwindle this week.

AAA and OPIS (Oil Price Information Service) analyzed a range of data to identify how much more time Americans have to punch the clock to afford a tank of gas. For the methodology, the median income for each county was broken down to an income by minute assuming a 40-hour workweek.  The average gasoline price was compared to the income per minute.

Counties in the Southeast have been hit the hardest with McCreary County, KY topping the list. There, the average worker needs to work for 17.17 minutes more just to buy one gallon of regular unleaded gasoline (compared to 13 minutes in January).  That is a 32% longer work time than at the start of the year.

Here is a list of all the counties in the WCNY region and where they rank on the list. Thankfully, out of the 3,081 counties in the U.S., we’re pretty far down the list!