A gallon of gas now costs $5 or more in 13 states and the District of Columbia

The American Automobile Association reported Tuesday that the national average gas price has reached a new all-time high of $4.92 per gallon, an increase of 30 cents in the past week and 62 cents in the past month.

A gallon of regular gas costs five dollars or more in 13 states — California, Nevada, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Alaska, Michigan, Arizona, Indiana, New Jersey, Maine, and Massachusetts — plus the District of Columbia. Another 11 states were less than 10 cents short of that bank-breaking benchmark.

In California, which had the nation's highest gas prices at $6.37 per gallon, pain at the pump could put Orange County districts that swung Democratic during the Trump years back in play for Republicans, The New York Times reported.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

A year ago, the national average gas price was $3.05 per gallon. On Tuesday, Georgia had the cheapest gas in the country, averaging $4.33 per gallon.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin. She also insisted that the high cost of a fill-up was the result of a "tough, GLOBAL issue," noting that Germany, the European Union, and Canada have all seen greater increases in the price of gas than the United States.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) put the blame on President Biden, tweeting that Biden "is avoiding his legal obligation to sell energy leases."