Gasoline prices averaged $3.728 a gallon in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton area in October 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that area gasoline prices were up 40.4 cents compared to last October, when they averaged $3.324 per gallon. Boston area households paid an average of 29.1 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity in October 2022, up from 22.8 cents per kWh in October 2021. The average cost of utility (piped) gas, at $2.088 per therm in October, was up from $1.397 per therm a year earlier. (Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year-analysis is used throughout.)

At $3.728 a gallon, costs for gasoline in the Boston area were 40.2 cents, or 9.73 percent, lower than the national average of $4.130 a gallon in October 2022. Last October, gasoline costs in Boston were 4.4 percent lower than the national average. From 2018 to 2020, the October price for a gallon of gasoline in Boston was within five percent of the U.S. average. (See chart 1.)

The 29.1 cents per kWh that Boston households paid for electricity in October 2022 was 75.3 percent higher than the nationwide average cost of 16.6 cents per kWh. Last October, electricity costs in Boston were 60.6 percent higher than the nation. Boston area electricity costs have exceeded the national average by at least 48.9 percent over the past five Octobers. (See chart 2.)

Prices paid by Boston area consumers for utility (piped) gas, commonly referred to as natural gas, were $2.088 per therm in October 2022, as compared to the national average of $1.668 per therm. Prices for natural gas in the Boston area were at least 7.3 percent below the national average in three of the past five years. (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 November 2022 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, at 8:30 AM (EST).

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, the 3 population size classes, 10 region/size-class cross-classifications, and the 14 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 individuals with sensory impairments 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, October 2021–October 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
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
September	3.990	3.887	0.167	0.289	1.739	2.006
October	4.130	3.728	0.166	0.291	1.668	2.088