California gas prices are showing a stark county-by-county divide, and the California gas prices gap is costing drivers real money every time they pull into a station. New AAA figures put the state average for regular gasoline at $5.593 a gallon on Sunday, far above the national average of $4.012.
The latest available numbers show how uneven the market has become. Yuba City posted the lowest regular price in the data at $5.2718 a gallon. It was followed by El Centro at $5.3786, Stockton-Lodi at $5.3984, Chico-Paradise at $5.3978, and Modesto and Redding, both at $5.4038. At the high end, San Luis Obispo-Atascadero-Paso Robles averaged $5.8601 for regular gasoline. In that same market, premium reached $6.26 and diesel climbed above $7.11.
That spread adds up quickly for families and workers who depend on their vehicles. The difference between the cheapest and most expensive markets in the figures comes to nearly 59 cents a gallon. For a 20-gallon fill-up, that works out to almost $12 more just because a driver buys fuel in a pricier county. Other expensive areas included San Francisco at $5.7187, Salinas at $5.7102, Napa at $5.7063, Santa Rosa at $5.7058 and San Diego at $5.6928.
Several large Southern California markets also stayed above the state average. Los Angeles-Long Beach averaged $5.6629, Orange County came in at $5.6023, Riverside at $5.5458 and San Bernardino at $5.5704. The pattern largely follows a coastal-versus-inland split, with many Central Valley communities such as Fresno, Sacramento and Stockton-Lodi running cheaper than coastal markets where transportation and distribution costs can push prices higher.
Even California’s lower-priced areas are still expensive by national standards. Yuba City’s average remains more than $1.25 above the U.S. average. Fresno’s $5.5050 price is nearly $1.50 higher than the national figure, while Los Angeles is about $1.65 above it. The statewide average is also up about 24% from a year ago, when regular gasoline averaged $4.4961. Prices have eased slightly from $5.6551 a week earlier, though they remain above the $5.3827 level from a month ago.
