Gasoline Index 2022: how many gallons of gas can you buy for an average wage?

This is an archived report. The latest ranking is available here.

Our analysts at Picodi.com examined the dynamics of gasoline price change in the Americas and around the world in the first quarter of 2022 and calculated how many gallons of gas one can afford for an average wage in the USA.

Gasoline is even more expensive

In the first half of 2022, many countries in our region noted record-breaking increases in gasoline prices. The anti-leader of this increase is Panama, where the gas prices increased by 65%.

In June, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the USA was $5.15. This price is 40.5% higher than in January, when, on average, a gallon of gasoline cost $3.67. An even more severe increase in price can be felt by car owners in Costa Rica (+45.0%), Puerto Rico (+48.7%) Panama (+65.0%).

In Cuba and Bolivia, gasoline prices were stable throughout the first half of the year. However, this is due to the fact that in these countries the government regulates the prices. Colombia and Ecuador are the only countries in the Americas, where gasoline became slightly cheaper (−0.2% and −1.0% respectively).

Gasoline Index 2022

Uruguayans are currently paying the most for their fuel, paying $7.64/gallon. In the USA, the gasoline price is one of the lowest in the Americas – 14^th place out of 21 accounted for countries at $5.15/gallon. Low gasoline prices can also be enjoyed by citizens of Bolivia ($2.06/gallon) and Colombia ($2.29/gallon).

This year we also checked the relation between gasoline prices and local average wages.

(click the arrows to see data from the remaining 20 countries)

With the average wage, drivers from the USA (780 gallons), Canada (427 gallons) and Puerto Rico (333 gallons) can buy the most gasoline.

According to the newest data presented by BLS, the average wage in the USA is $58,260.00 gross yearly ($4,018.21 net monthly). This means that an average American for an average monthly wage can buy 780 gallons of gas. Compared to the previous year’s gasoline index, the purchasing power of an average American wage in the context of gasoline has significantly decreased.

This is what the gasoline index in the USA looked like in the last few years:

• 2019 – 1,245 gallons
• 2020 – 1,510 gallons
• 2021 – 1,248 gallons
• 2022 – 780 gallons

Prices of gasoline around the world: prices did not increase everywhere

Having substantial raw material resources saved some countries from the increase in the price of gas. Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar were not affected by the world’s economic situation. The governments of countries such as Columbia, Ecuador and Kazakhstan have decided to either freeze or set the upper limit on gasoline prices.

(hover over the country to see the information)

In June of 2022, the lowest price of gasoline was noted in Algeria ($1.19/gallon), Kuwait ($1.30/gallon) and Iran ($1.34/gallon). Hong Kong on the other hand stands out as the country with the highest price of gas per gallon ($11.34/gallon).

In the global ranking of purchasing power, the podium still belongs to the Gulf countries: Qatar (1,576 gallons), Kuwait (1,473 gallons) and Saudi Arabia (1,155 gallons).

The poorest country in this comparison is Cuba, where the average wage is equal to only 7 gallons of gas.

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Methodology

Gasoline Index is an annual ranking of the relation between gasoline prices and salaries conducted by Picodi since 2019.

This study uses the newest average wage data published online by national statistics offices or relevant ministries. In countries where such data is not published, we used statistics from Numbeo.

The average gas prices in 102 countries in the first half of 2022 were taken from GlobalPetrolPrices.com and other local sources. The difference between prices in June and January was calculated in local currencies. In order to get the number of gallons, we divided the average monthly net wage (obtained through local wage calculators) by an average price of 1 gallon of gasoline. For currency conversion, we used the average exchange rate data from Google Finance for June 2022.

Public use

Would you like to share the information about gasoline prices and wage purchasing power in the USA and worldwide with your readers? You can freely use the data and infographics presented in this report both for commercial and non-commercial use, as long as you state the author of this research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at: research@picodi.com.