WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Every day, a new record high is reached for the price of gasoline in the United States. The national average hit $4.59 on May 19. In Virginia, a gallon of gasoline isn't far behind, according to AAA.
A viewer in northern Virginia wanted to know how "average" prices are estimated.
"The news reports that AAA says the average price for gas in Virginia is $4.34. Yet, when I drive around the area, I see an average of $4.69," Kevin Koslowski, from Springfield, Virginia, asked. "How do they come up with this?"
He asked us to verify, what goes into that calculation.
THE QUESTION:
How is the average gas price in Virginia estimated?
THE SOURCES:
- Morgan Dean- AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesperson
- GasBuddy spokesperson
THE ANSWER:
AAA and GasBuddy use crowdsourced data either collected through apps or card swipes at gas stations.
WHAT WE FOUND:
Northern Virginia has the priciest gas in the commonwealth. Stations in Fairfax, Alexandria and Arlington are charging the most, according to AAA and GasBuddy data.
As of May 19, here were the average prices in each:
- Alexandria City: $4.784 (AAA); $4.750 (GasBuddy)
- Arlington County: $4.748 (AAA); $4.744 (GasBuddy)
- Fairfax County: $4.752 (AAA); $4.754 (GasBuddy)
Meanwhile, gas stations in Southwest Virginia sold gas for a lot less, which brought the overall state average down to about $4.46.
So how do companies like AAA and GasBuddy know how much gas is going for?
AAA uses data compiled from fleet credit cards.
“It's made up of fleet credit card swipes at 130,000 gas stations across the country," Morgan Dean, a spokesperson for AAA Mid-Atlantic said. "It's updated daily by Opis, that's the oil price information service, they work with us...So as they're using these fleet cards at gas stations all over Virginia, it's recording all those numbers and then goes locality by locality, metro region by metro region, and then does an overall state average of all of those different credit card swipes."
A Gas Buddy spokesperson told us their estimates are an average of local stations in an area. Prices are crowdsourced from the GasBuddy app and when people use GasBuddy discount cards.