Gasoline prices averaged $4.387 a gallon in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton area in August 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that area gasoline prices were up $1.264 compared to last August when they averaged $3.123 per gallon. Boston area households paid an average of 28.8 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity in August 2022, up from 22.8 cents per kWh in August 2021. The average cost of utility (piped) gas, at $1.692 per therm in August, was up from $1.286 per therm a year earlier. (Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year-analysis is used throughout.)

At $4.387 a gallon, costs for gasoline in the Boston area were 18.2 cents, or 4.3 percent, higher than the national average of $4.205 a gallon in August 2022. Last August, gasoline costs in Boston were 6.8 percent lower than the national average. From 2018 to 2020, the August price for a gallon of gasoline in Boston was within 5 percent of the U.S. average. (See chart 1.)

The 28.8 cents per kWh that Boston households paid for electricity in August 2022 was 72.5 percent higher than the nationwide average cost of 16.7 cents per kWh. Last August, electricity costs in Boston were 58.3 percent higher than the nation. Boston area electricity costs have exceeded the national average by at least 52.6 percent over the past five Augusts. (See chart 2.)

Prices paid by Boston area consumers for utility (piped) gas, commonly referred to as natural gas, were $1.692 per therm in August 2022, close to the national average of $1.694 per therm. For the last three years, natural gas prices in the Boston area have been similar to the national average, in contrast to 2018 and 2019, when August prices were 6.9 percent and 9.5 percent higher, respectively. (See chart 3.)

The Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H., Core Based Statistical Area covered in this release is comprised of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Suffolk Counties in Massachusetts; Rockingham and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire.

The Consumer Price Index for September 2022 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, October 13, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

Average prices are estimated from Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for selected commodity series to support the research and analytic needs of CPI data users. Average prices for electricity, utility (piped) gas, and gasoline are published monthly for the U.S. city average, the 4 regions, 9 divisions, 2 population size classes, 8 region/size-class cross-classifications, and the 23 largest local index areas. For electricity, average prices per kilowatt-hour (kWh) are published. For utility (piped) gas, average prices per therm are published. For gasoline, the average price per gallon is published. Average prices for commonly available grades of gasoline are published as well as the average price across all grades.

All eligible prices are converted to a price per normalized quantity. These prices are then used to estimate a price for a defined fixed quantity. The average price per kilowatt-hour represents the total bill divided by the kilowatt-hour usage. The total bill is the sum of all items applicable to all consumers appearing on an electricity bill including, but not limited to, variable rates per kWh, fixed costs, taxes, surcharges, and credits. This calculation also applies to the average price per therm for utility (piped) gas.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Average prices for gasoline, electricity, and utility (piped) gas, the United States and Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, August 2021–August 2022, not seasonally adjusted

Year and month	Gasoline per gallon		Electricity per kWh		Utility (piped) gas per therm
	United States	Boston area	United States	Boston area	United States	Boston area
2021
August	$3.351	$3.123	$0.144	$0.228	$1.267	$1.286
September	3.361	3.164	0.144	0.228	1.302	1.286
October	3.477	3.324	0.142	0.228	1.383	1.397
November	3.576	3.486	0.142	0.244	1.401	1.849
December	3.505	3.475	0.142	0.245	1.402	1.894
2022
January	3.500	3.452	0.147	0.266	1.409	1.853
February	3.675	3.582	0.148	0.269	1.413	1.853
March	4.401	4.297	0.150	0.267	1.411	2.003
April	4.369	4.229	0.151	0.268	1.445	2.003
May	4.695	4.648	0.154	0.257	1.565	1.776
June	5.149	5.084	0.160	0.260	1.699	1.916
July	4.768	4.789	0.166	0.270	1.629	1.916
August	4.205	4.387	0.167	0.288	1.694	1.692