Michigan drivers got hit with a sudden spike at the pump this week, with the statewide average for regular unleaded gasoline rising to $4.61 per gallon on Wednesday, Oct. 21, according to Bloomberg.
CBS News Detroit described the increase as a sharp rise that reversed a short-lived price drop. AAA maintains a database tracking daily gasoline and diesel price changes nationwide and also issues weekly trend reports. Its Oct. 19 report listed Michigan's regular unleaded at $4.66 a week earlier and $4.89 a month earlier.
The run-up tracks with broader Midwest trouble. Gas prices in Michigan and Ohio surged after an issue at a Chicago-area refinery, according to Bloomberg, which reported that Michigan's average regular gasoline price rose 17 cents to $4.61 a gallon on Wednesday alone. Ohio wasn't spared either — the outlet reported prices there rose 10 cents to $4.08 a gallon over the same stretch.
A Short-Lived Dip Before the Spike
Just days before this week's jump, the picture looked very different. Gas prices in Michigan were actually down 15 cents from the previous week as of Oct. 19, according to AAA Michigan, which surveys more than 4,200 stations across the state using credit-card swipes and direct feeds to produce its daily averages. Metro Detroit's average sat at $4.54 per gallon that day, about 6 cents below the prior week, and filling a 15-gallon tank cost drivers roughly $68 on average.
That dip followed an earlier spike of its own. Michigan gasoline prices had risen 19 cents from the previous week as of Oct. 12, AAA Michigan noted in a separate report, underscoring just how choppy the market has been through October. The Detroit News attributed the mid-month decline to a national drop in gasoline demand alongside a rise in supply, citing EIA data showing demand falling from 8.76 million to 8.40 million barrels per day while total domestic gasoline supply rose from 204.7 million to 208.3 million barrels, according to The Detroit News.
Even with the recent swings, Michigan's average price on Oct. 19 remained $1.71 per gallon higher than the same time the previous year, AAA Michigan reported, while the state's average was 38 cents lower than a month earlier. MLive separately noted gasoline was $1.70 more per gallon than a year earlier.
Where Michigan Stacks Up Nationally
Michigan's prices sit well above the national picture in some respects but still trail the country's priciest markets. Average gas prices were at least $5 per gallon in California, Hawaii, Nevada and Washington as of Oct. 22, according to NBC News, which also reported that Georgia, North Carolina and Texas had the lowest average prices among states. NBC News noted that average gas prices nationally had increased by more than $1 per gallon since the United States and Israel first attacked Iran, and that since mid-May the national average had declined by around 20 cents but remained more than $1 above its level at the start of the war.
Within Michigan, geography has made a real difference at the pump this month. Among markets tracked Oct. 19, Ann Arbor had the highest average at $4.56 per gallon, according to AAA Michigan, while MLive reported Mackinac County topped the state's counties that day at $4.81 per gallon and Baraga County came in lowest at $4.15. MLive also noted the U.S. average for unleaded gas stood at $4.30 per gallon on Oct. 19, compared with $6.43 per gallon for diesel in Michigan.
Not every outlet agrees on the exact statewide figures for the same days, a reminder that different surveys can produce different snapshots. AAA Michigan put the Oct. 19 statewide average at $4.51 per gallon, while MLive reported $4.49 for that same Monday; Newsweek, meanwhile, reported Michigan's average at $4.89 per gallon on Friday, up from $4.75 on Thursday and from $3.21 a year earlier — figures that differ from the AAA numbers cited by CBS News Detroit.
