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Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Gasoline prices averaged $4.222 a gallon in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area in December 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that area gasoline prices were lower than last December when they averaged $4.499 per gallon. Seattle area households paid an average of 13.9 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity in December 2024, higher than the 12.7 cents price per kWh paid in December 2023. The average cost of utility (piped) gas at $1.425 per therm in December was higher than the $0.985 per therm spent last year. (Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year-analysis is used throughout.)
At $4.222 a gallon, Seattle area consumers paid 28.8 percent more than the $3.277 national average in December 2024. A year earlier, consumers in the Seattle area paid 31.9 percent more than the national average for a gallon of gasoline. The local price of a gallon of gasoline has ranged from 16.5 percent to 31.9 percent above the national average in the month of December during the past five years. (See chart 1.)
The 13.9 cents per kWh Seattle households paid for electricity in December 2024 was 21.0 percent less than the nationwide average of 0.176 cents per kWh. Last December, electricity costs were 24.9 percent lower in Seattle compared to the nation. In the past five years, prices paid by Seattle area consumers for electricity were less than the U.S. average by 16.2 percent or more in the month of December. (See chart 2.)
Prices paid by Seattle area consumers for utility (piped) gas, commonly referred to as natural gas, were $1.425 per therm, compared to the national average of $1.522 per therm in December 2024. In the Seattle area over the past five years, the per therm cost for natural gas in December has varied between 31.1 percent below and 5.5 percent above the U.S. average. (See chart 3.)
The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area consists of King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties of Washington.
With the publication of January 2025 data in February 2025, several indexes and average price series will be discontinued.
The following CPI indexes will continue to be published at the national level, but will be discontinued for all metropolitan areas, census divisions, and regional size classes:
The following CPI average price series will continue to be published at the national level, but will be discontinued for all metropolitan areas, census divisions, and regional size classes:
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.
Last Modified Date: Tuesday, January 21, 2025