Going out of town to enjoy Labor Day? How to find the cheapest place to fill up

The air is clearing, the weather is beautiful, and you might be tempted to get out of town this weekend.

Fuel prices are working in your favor — though just barely.

The average price of gas in Washington fell 1.8 cents to an average of $3.33 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.com, a price tracking service.

The average is computed from a daily survey of 2,666 Washington fueling stations. The Tri-Cities average was $3.18, up from $2.71 last year.

Locally, Costco had the cheapest gas — $3.04 per gallon for members Monday.

For non-members, Garfield Mart in Kennewick and USA Gasoline in Pasco were selling gas for $3.05 per gallon, GasBuddy said.

The national average was $2.83 per gallon, with the lowest prices in the Southeast and the highest in the West.

Analysts expect fuel prices to increase slightly before Labor Day as demand goes up, but not as bad as last year.

Hurricane Harvey forced refineries and pipelines to shut down, driving up prices.

Washington, which does not have an income sales tax, has the nation’s second highest gas tax at 49.4 cents per gallon.

Federal taxes push the the total to 67.8 cents per gallon. Pennsylvania, at $58.2 cent per gallon, has the nation’s highest gas tax.

Over the past five years, Washington gas prices at Labor Day have averaged from a low of $2.62 per gallon in 2016 to a high of $3.88 in 2014.

“(T)his seems like the last week we’ll see elevated prices as demand is set to drop with the conclusion of Labor Day weekend,” reports Patrick DeHaan, petroleum analyst for Gas Buddy.

For updated information about fuel prices, go to gasbuddy.com.

This story was originally published August 27, 2018 at 12:45 PM.