More and more motorists in the middle part of the country and the southeast are seeing a welcome sight: per-gallon gas prices that start with “$2.”

Nationwide, a gallon of unleaded gas went for $3.20 on Thursday, down from $3.21 on Wednesday, hitting its lowest point since December 2022, data from AAA showed. Prices have plunged since mid-September, when a gallon of gas averaged $3.88. While drivers in California are still paying an average $4.74 a gallon, prices under $3 are now the norm in the Midwest, South, and the Great Plains, as the map below shows. 

Cheaper gas may be coming to a gas station near you if it’s not there already.

“Expect prices to keep dropping for now, and maybe well into January,” Andrew Gross, spokesperson for AAA, said in an email.

Gas prices have fallen along with the price of the crude oil it’s made from. Brent crude was selling for $74 a barrel Thursday, its lowest since June and down from $96 at the end of September, amid trader concerns that slow global economic growth could mean less demand for petroleum. There’s also a seasonal pattern at work—oil prices typically peak in the summer, and fall through the early winter.

Cheaper gas this fall has already helped lower inflation, and gives a break to the budgets of households under pressure from the steep cost-of-living increases over the past few years, not to mention the higher borrowing costs for credit cards and other consumer loans because of the Federal Reserve’s 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结𒀰果体彩网:campaign of anti-inflation inte🅰rest rate hikes.