The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline has dropped 5 cents per gallon over the past month to $2.54, according to AAA.
While that's more than 20 cents higher than this time last year, AAA is predicting that a record 104 million Americans will travel by car for the year-end holidays.
California's average price is a dollar more than the national average, and San Luis Obispo County is the highest in the state.
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SLO County's current average is $3.80. That's about 20 cents less than a month ago but 27 cents higher than last year.
Santa Barbara County isn't far behind at $3.73. That's 25 cents less than a month ago and 31 cents higher than last year.
California's gas tax makes up 47.3 cents per gallon of that cost. It just went up by 5.6 cents in July as part of SB1.
Still, Kauai beats the Central Coast for highest gas prices in the country right now, with the average price there at $3.87
AAA reports Missouri has the cheapest average gas prices at $2.19.
AAA says the cheapest gas prices of the year are usually found around the end of the year. The reason this year's average is so much higher than last year's is attributed to higher crude oil prices.
