Utah's gasoline prices in top third nat..

Fuel • Costs in state trend upward in summer months.

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Utah has the 13th-highest gasoline prices in the country, a new reports shows.

The average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Utah on Thursday was $3.76, down a penny over the past week but up 6 cents from one month ago, according to travel-services agency AAA Utah.

Nationally, prices are down substantially over the past month. The average is $3.62, down 6 cents from one week ago and 19 cents from one month ago.

Prices in Utah tend to move in the opposite way of national trends, sometimes in a completely unexplainable fashion. But they do often follow a cycle of generally being among the lowest in the country in winter months and among the highest during all or part of the summer.

As always, though, it pays to shop around because prices can vary widely, even among stations close to one another. A Smith's Food & Drug gasoline station in Farmington, for example, was selling unleaded for $3.15 per gallon Thursday, according to gas-price comparison website UtahGasPrices.com.

Elsewhere along the Wasatch Front, most stations were charging more than $3.50 per gallon. In southern Utah, some stations were charging close to $4 per gallon, with some over that threshold, according to the site. —

Utah prices

Thursday unleaded average • $3.76

Week ago • $3.77

Month ago • $3.70

Year ago • $3.69

Record high • 4.22 (July 18, 2008)

U.S. prices

Thursday unleaded average • $3.62

Week ago • $3.68

Month ago • $3.81

Year ago • $3.78

Record high • 4.11 (July 17, 2008)

Source: AAA Utah

Utah's gasoline prices in top third nationally