After a steady rise, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline reached the dreaded $6-a-gallon mark Thursday in Stockton, according to AAA’s daily fuel price survey.
The daily average — $6.004 — has been deliberately marching toward the unwelcome barometer.
A week ago, you could fill up for $5.83 a gallon in Stockton. A month ago, the price was $5.75. A year ago — long before the war with Iran sparked events that have led to higher oil prices — gas in Stockton was $4.77 a gallon, according to the survey.
The rise comes at a difficult time: We are only two weeks away from Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of the summer driving season.
“A lot of people are taking road trips and not flying,” said Doug Johnson, spokesperson for the AAA Mountain West Group division, which includes Stockton.
And as more people drive on vacation, he said, “demand goes up, (along with) prices at the pump.”
In a small bit of good news, Stockton’s gas prices remain below the city’s all-time record of $6.37 a gallon, set June 16, 2022, in a runup sparked by Russia’s attempted invasion of Ukraine.
Even with the spike, Stockton’s average gas price remains below California’s. The state’s average cost was $6.17 a gallon in AAA’s survey, which is based on receipts from a network of participating gas stations.
A report released this week on the blog of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows why many consumers in cities like Stockton are being forced to make sacrifices in the face of sky-high fuel prices.
The report shows that middle-class and wealthy motorists are stomaching the higher gas prices, while working-class folks are being forced to cut back.
“Higher-income households have reduced real gas consumption only modestly and increased gasoline spending considerably compared with 2023. In contrast, lower-income households increased spending by much less and decreased real consumption by much more, potentially by carpooling or substituting to public transit where available,” the report states.
There is hope. Oil prices have seesawed amid hopes that the U.S. and Iran may reach an agreement that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has blocked tankers carrying a significant amount of the world’s oil.
But even if a deal is reached, it could take weeks for gas prices to fall, Johnson said.
GasBuddy.com, a gas price tracking website, reported Thursday that the cheapest gas to be found around Stockton was at the Sinclair station at 3250 W. Hammer Lane. A gallon of regular was going for $5.15 a gallon. The next closest was Gas Co at 1700 E. Yosemite Ave. in Manteca, at $5.37 a gallon.