The truth behind the viral California gas prices photo

Published 10:00 pm Thursday, October 21, 2021

By Josh Copitch

KSBW

A widely shared photo of gas prices from Gorda, California, has left people aghast.

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The photo of the gas pump shows regular unleaded costing $7.599 a gallon, unleaded plus costing $7.999 and premium unleaded listed at $8.499 a gallon.

Gorda is a small community located in Monterey County in the remote area of the Big Sur coast, right off Highway 1. It often boasts the most expensive gas prices on California’s Central Coast.

A sign at the gas station says that the next gas stations are 40 miles while heading north and 12 miles south. People who stop to get gas have no other choices.

In July 2019, a gallon of gas cost more than $6. In April of the same year, sister station KSBW reported that a regular gallon of gas cost $11.75 per gallon.

On the same day the photo was taken, the average price across all of Monterey County, California, was $4.59 per gallon.