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: Wednesday, April 13, 2022
22-665-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, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward – March 2022
Gasoline prices averaged $5.773 a gallon in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward area in March 2022, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that area gasoline
prices were $1.983 higher than last March when they averaged $3.790 per gallon. San Francisco area
households paid an average of 31.0 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity in March 2022, higher than the
25.1 cents per kWh paid in March 2021. The average cost of utility (piped) gas at $2.030 per therm in March
was higher than the $1.656 per therm spent last year. (Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted;
accordingly, over-the-year-analysis is used throughout.)
At $5.773 a gallon, San Francisco area consumers paid 31.2 percent more than the $4.401 national average in
March 2022. A year earlier, consumers in the San Francisco area paid 32.7 percent more than the national
average for a gallon of gasoline. The local price of a gallon of gasoline has ranged from 31.2 to 37.7 percent
above the national average in the month of March during the past five years. (See chart 1.)
2
The 31.0 cents per kWh San Francisco households paid for electricity in March 2022 was 106.7 percent more
than the nationwide average of 15.0 cents per kWh. Last March, electricity costs were 81.9 percent higher in
San Francisco compared to the nation. In each of the past five years, prices paid by San Francisco area
consumers for electricity exceeded the U.S. average by at least 54.1 percent in the month of March. (See chart
2.)
Prices paid by San Francisco area consumers for utility (piped) gas, commonly referred to as natural gas, were
$2.030 per therm, or 43.9 percent above the national average in March 2022 ($1.411 per therm). A yea