The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.
For Release: Thursday, January 13, 2022
22-77-SAN
WESTERN INFORMATION OFFICE: San Francisco, Calif.
Technical information:
(415) 625-2270 BLSinfoSF@bls.gov www.bls.gov/regions/west
Media contact:
(415) 625-2270
Average Energy Prices, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue – December 2021
Gasoline prices averaged $4.085 a gallon in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area in December 2021, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that area gasoline
prices were $1.438 higher than last December when they averaged $2.647 per gallon. Seattle area households
paid an average of 11.7 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity in December 2021, compared to the 11.4
cents per kWh paid in December 2020. The average cost of utility (piped) gas at $1.269 per therm in
December was more than the $1.175 per therm spent last year. (Data in this release are not seasonally
adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year-analysis is used throughout.)
At $4.085 a gallon, Seattle area consumers paid 16.5 percent more than the $3.505 national average in
December 2021. A year earlier, consumers in the Seattle area paid 18.4 percent more than the national average
for a gallon of gasoline. The local price of a gallon of gasoline has been within 26.8 percent of the national
average in the month of December during the past five years. (See chart 1.)
2
The 11.7 cents per kWh Seattle households paid for electricity in December 2021 was 17.6 percent less than
the nationwide average of 14.2 cents per kWh. Last December, electricity costs were 16.2 percent lower in
Seattle compared to the nation. In each of the past five years during the month of December, prices paid by
Seattle area consumers for electricity were less than the U.S. average by at least 16.2 percent. (See chart 2.)
Prices paid by Seattle area consumers for utility (piped) gas, commonly referred to as natural gas, were $1.269
per therm, or 9.5 percent below the national average in December 2021 ($1.402 per therm). A year earlier, area
consumer