MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — After a holiday season filled with severe weather and record-high numbers of travelers, AAA says gas prices have reached a relative mixed-bag.
Overall, the country is up 4 cents from over a month ago, but down 2 cents from a year ago.
“We're only about 7 months removed from the all-time record high that we saw back in June of 2022, which is $5.18 a gallon in the Milwaukee market; more than $2 above what we're seeing today. So, that really does kind of skew some perceptions of you know what is high, that mark always is kind of a moving target,” said Nick Jarmusz, AAA Director of Public Affairs.
Here in Milwaukee, we have been trending up in the last week, up from $3.04 last Friday, to $3.09 this Friday. This is a 28-cent increase from than a month ago and 10 cents higher than a year ago. Still, AAA says it’s not a cause for concern.
“It's always hard to know what's going to happen, you know what trends are going to pop up both on the demand side and the supply side. We are hoping and anticipating more stable prices throughout 2023 than what we saw last year,” said Jarmusz.
Local economists say the changes may not seem like much right now, but that is simply because gas prices are one of the few price-related expenses that is typically at the top of mind.
“The big thing about gas prices is you see that price every day, and so it's one of the things that kind of set your expectations about what's going on in the economy because you don't see it everywhere, even you might go to the grocery store once a week, you still see gas prices every day, and so it's a big indicator of what's going on in the economy,” said Jim McGibany, Economics Department Chair, Marquette University.
Looking ahead, AAA says drivers should be conscious of how much they’re spending, but know that there is always room for changes when it comes to gas prices.
“Of course, anything can happen. And there's so many different factors that could push prices up, you know, in relatively short amount of time as well as factors that could bring prices down in the long run,” said Jarmusz.
