America's Highest Gas Prices Bounce Between These Popular Western Tourist States

In a nation so primed for once-in-a-lifetime road trips, the price of gas can make the difference between a bargain adventure or one that busts a hole in the wallet. So, whether you're looking to sling your pistols on the Wild West wonderland of the Billy the Kid National Scenic Byway down in New Mexico, or witness the gorgeous fall foliage of South Carolina's breathtaking Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway, it pays to check the price of fuel before you set off.

Luckily, the American Automobile Association (or just the AAA for short) has made that easy-peasy. Tracking daily fluctuations in the cost of oil, they offer real-time updates on the priciest and the cheapest parts of the country for drivers. Where can you expect to pay the most? Just a glance at the data, and it's clear that two states share the crown when it comes to pain at the pump. So brace yourselves if you're headed west, folks, for Washington and California are the culprits.

Yep, as it turns out, the cost of gas in these two territories has been over $4 per gallon for quite some time now. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Golden State saw prices soar past that mark back in April 2021, while the Evergreen State crossed the same threshold in early 2022. Over time, however, California has proved the more expensive of the two — though there have been short periods when Washington pipped it to the post with even more expensive gasoline.

What's perhaps most striking is that these are two of the nation's major tourism hotspots. According to the International Trade Administration, California is among the top five most-visited U.S. states of all. Washington, meanwhile, attracts an more than 25 million people each year from the US and abroad. All of which seems to suggest that high fuel costs don't deter travelers.

The states are packed with world-class driving routes, too — whether that's a jaunt through the ski fields and lumber towns of the Cascades or the hot springs and desert highway of the 395 in California. Even better, they also share the legendary 1,650-mile Pacific Coast Highway. Undoubtedly one of the world's most iconic touring routes, it connects one of the largest rainforests in the U.S. in Washington's Olympic National Park to the Big Sur, a stretch of California where the mountains tumble into the Pacific Ocean in dramatic fashion.

But what's the price tag on such bucket-list-busting trips? Well, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Energy, an average car in America now does about 24.4 miles to the gallon. That means a romp down the whole length of the Pacific Coast will set you back as much as $312 going by current Californian gas prices. Meanwhile, the 440-mile Cascade Loop through orchards, vineyards, and pretty lakes in Washington will likely cost nearly $80 in gas alone. A factor worth considering when you come to plan your next adventure out west.