Gasoline Index 2023: how many gallons of gasoline can you buy for an average wage?

Picodi.com analysts examined the dynamics of gasoline price change in the United States and around the world in the first half of the year and calculated how many gallons of gasoline an average American earning an average wage can afford.

Gasoline prices have stabilized

In the first six months of 2023, the prices of gasoline in our region remained stable. In most countries, the gasoline price in June differed from the price in January by less than 10%. Only in Argentina and Colombia gasoline became noticeably more expensive – 30% and 22% respectively. In Paraguay and Peru gasoline was cheaper than in January by 10% in both countries.

In the US, the average gasoline price in June 2023 was $3.88, 27 cents more than in January ($3.61).

The gasoline prices remained unchanged in Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, and Nicaragua, where the local governments decided to freeze the prices of fuel.

Gasoline Index 2023

The lowest gasoline prices can be found in South America – in Colombia ($2.94/gallon), Ecuador ($2.40/gallon), and Bolivia ($2.05/gallon). On the other hand, the highest gasoline prices have to be paid by drivers from Uruguay ($6.94/gallon), Chile ($5.98/gallon), and Dominican Republic ($5.32/gallon). In the US, gasoline costs $3.88/gallon, 50 cents cheaper than the continental average.

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, the most gasoline can be bought by the citizens of high-wage countries – Americans (1,102 gallons), Canadians (573 gallons), and Puerto Ricans (448 gallons).

According to the newest data presented by BLS, the average wage in the US is $61,900 gross yearly ($4,273.85 net monthly). This means that an average American can buy 1,102 gallons of gasoline (1^st out of 21 countries). Last year, in the same period, the average wage could buy only 780 gallons (322 gallons less).

This is what the gasoline index in the US looked like in the last 5 years:

• 2019 – 1,245 gallons;
• 2020 – 1,510 gallons;
• 2021 – 1,248 gallons;
• 2022 – 780 gallons;
• 2023 – 1,102 gallons.

In search of a driver’s paradise…

Compared to last year, the three leaders have not changed: Algeria ($1.28/gallon), Kuwait ($1.29/gallon) and Iran ($1.34/gallon) are still the cheapest countries in the world. Hong Kong continues to be the most expensive country with a gallon of gasoline costing $11.30.

(hover over the country to see the information)

In the global ranking of purchasing power, the podium belongs to the Gulf countries: with the average wage the most gasoline can be bought in Kuwait (1,908 gallons), Qatar (1,807 gallons), and the United Arab Emirates (1,218 gallons).

On the other hand, the Gasoline Index looks the worst in these countries:

• Pakistan – 44 gallons for the average wage;
• Sri Lanka – 41 gallons;
• Cuba – 7 gallons.

Methodology

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

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

The average gasoline prices in 104 countries in the first half of 2023 were taken from GlobalGasolinePrices.com and other local sources. The difference between prices in June and January was calculated in local currencies. In order to calculate the “Gasoline Index”, we divided the average net wage (obtained through local wage calculators) by an average price of a gallon of gasoline in June. For currency conversion, we used the average exchange rate data from Google Finance for June 2023.

All the prices, along with the list of sources can be found here.

Public Use

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