(The Center Square) – Despite the fifth-highest tax in the country, heading into the Thanksgiving holiday travel North Carolina’s average unleaded gasoline price is 17th best.
For a tourism industry fifth-best in America that adds about $35.6 billion to the state economy from travelers, it’s a combination that produces a good forecast and a fair amount of traffic on the state’s highways. The average price of a gallon of unleaded Friday morning, seven days before Thanksgiving Day, is $2.87, which has improved but is now only 18 cents better than the national average of $3.05, according to the American Automobile Association.
Nationally, AAA predicts 79.9 million will travel 50 miles or more from home between Tuesday and Dec. 2.
Diesel fuel by the gallon is averaging $3.42 from Murphy to Manteo.
The Old North State became the 12th to go under $3 a gallon for unleaded less than two weeks after Labor Day. For a point in time context, heading into the Easter holiday weekend the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded was $3.30, or 23 cents below the national average.
This year North Carolina taxes gasoline at 40.4 cents per gallon, up 2 cents from last year. States higher are California (59.6); Pennsylvania (57.6); Washington (49.4); and Illinois (47).
Motor fuel taxes in the state go to the Department of Transportation’s highway and multi-modal projects, adding up to just more than half of the state transportation resources. Specifically, the revenues go into the Highway Fund and the Highway Trust Fund.
This year, North Carolina averages were $3.15 for unleaded gas and $4.07 for diesel at Martin Luther King Day; $3.35 and $3.87, respectively, just before Memorial Day; $3.30 and $3.77 prior to July 4; and $3.10 and $3.63 as Labor Day approached.
At this time a year ago, the averages were $3.06 for unleaded gas and $4.09 for diesel.
Among 14 major metro areas, unleaded gas is the least expensive in Jacksonville at $2.75. Most expensive is the Durham-Chapel Hill metro area ($3.00).
Diesel is the most consumer-friendly ($3.33) in Jacksonville.
In a state with the ninth-largest population of 10.8 million, roughly 8 million vehicle registrations are combustion engines, either gas or diesel. Total zero-emission vehicles registered is just more than 100,000 through August, or about 1 in 80 on the highways.
