Utah gas prices staying lower than previous years despite start to summer travel season
May 29, 2025, 2:30 PM
Gas prices in Davis County on Thursday, May 22, 2025. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
(Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s gas prices have managed to stay relatively low following Memorial Day weekend.
On Thursday, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Utah was about $3.31 a gallon according to AAA Utah. That’s $.26 cheaper than this time one year ago. And it’s actually the cheapest that Utah’s gas prices have been in May since 2021.
Related: Utah gas prices inch up, “summer gas” production likely to blame
“There’s been a lot of concerns for travel and …(the) cost of living … at least as of right now, you can look to gas as something to be positive about,” said AAA Utah spokesperson Julian Paredes.
Paredes told KSL NewsRadio the main reason prices are cheaper today is because the cost of oil is lower than it’s been in recent years.
“The gas market and the oil market have adjusted,” Paredes said. “Things are just more normal than they’ve been for the last few years.”
Normal vs. cheaper gas prices
While prices seem cheap today compared to the $3.57 average we were paying for regular unleaded in 2024 — and the $4 we paid per gallon in 2023 — what they really reflect is a return to normalcy.
In May 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused major shifts in the oil market, Utahns were paying an average of $3.19 a gallon for regular unleaded.
Prices plummeted to an average of $2.06 a gallon in Utah in May 2020, then rose to a more normal $3.31 a gallon in 2021.
Russia’s war on Ukraine caused prices to skyrocket in Utah to an average of $4.55 a gallon for regular unleaded in May 2022, before hitting an all-time average record high of $5.26 a gallon two months later.
Prices then dropped to an average of $4 a gallon in May o2023. They rested at $3.73 throughout May 2024.
With gas prices, what happens next?
Paredes said it’s hard to know exactly where prices will go ahead of time. But if history is a reliable predictor he said we might not see gas prices rise much more, if at all, this summer. That is, as long as the oil market and hurricane season cooperate.
“That’s not a big concern specifically for Utah, but Utah does get its gas from other states that could be impacted (by hurricanes),” Paredes said. “That’s definitely something to look out for.”
Paredes said prices historically start tapering off again around Labor Day.
