The Cost of Gasoline in New Jersey The Year You Started Driving

Think back to when you first started driving.

The feeling of freedom and independence driving home after just passing your driving test.

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Whether it was last year or many, many years ago, who could forget that feeling?

What an exciting time. No more relying on mom, dad, or friends to drive you places.

What was your first car?

Did it have a nickname?

Did you save up and buy it on your own or did you get a car from your parents?

My son recently got his permit and while we were out driving the other day we stopped to get gas.

We pulled into a Wawa and filled up at $3.16 a gallon.

I casually said to him, when I was your age I used to put $5 in and it would last me a long time.

Can't really do that anymore, you wouldn't get very far.

It got me thinking about how much the price of gasoline was the year I started driving. It wasn't $3.16 back in 1996, but I couldn't remember exactly how much it was so I did a little research.

The year I got my license gas was $1.23 a gallon with an inflation-adjusted price of $2.02.

That was the 8th least expensive year in an 84-year span.

No wonder I could put $5 in and it would last me a long time!

Take a little trip back in time to when you first started driving.

How much did gasoline cost the year you got your license? How does it compare to today?

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli

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Gallery Credit: Buehler