Houston prices for regular gasoline ranged from $1.92 per gallon to $2.61 per gallon during 2019, the lowest among 10 major cities, according to the U.S. Energy Information Association. The average U.S. price for the year was $2.60 a gallon, about 11 cents a gallon lower than in 2019.
Nationally, prices fell the most during the second half of the year, concordant with declining crude oil prices, the EIA says.
As for Houston, the EIA includes it in its Gulf Coast region, which spans Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and New Mexico. That region has had the country’s lowest prices every year for the past 20 years. Reasons? It contains more than half the country’s refining capacity and produces more – a lot more – gasoline than it uses. Houston’s prices were the lowest in the nation for 45 weeks during 2019.
How other major U.S. cities fared during 2019
Denver and Cleveland were the only other major cities in the EIA report in which the lowest prices fell below $2 per gallon at any point during the year. The highest prices were in California, where the per gallon cost top $4 a gallon in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Following are the 10 cities specified by the EIA and their 2019 price ranges for regular gas: