In these locations, a gallon of gas costs more than the federal minimum wage
CBSN
Motorists across the U.S. are grappling with gasoline prices that are reaching new records almost daily, but the pain isn't evenly distributed across the nation. Take the handful of locations where a gallon of regular fuel now costs as much as the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
It's a painful threshold that prices at the pump have reached at nine stations — all in California, according to GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan, an expert on oil and gas prices. Granted, the minimum wage in California is far above the federal minimum wage, with workers in the state earning at least $14 an hour, but paying $7.25 a gallon or more still takes a chunk out the typical paycheck.
On average, California drivers are paying more for gas than drivers in any other state, according to AAA. The reason is partly due to higher taxes to pay for infrastructure and other costs, but there's also something that economist Severin Borenstein of the University of California, Berkeley, calls a "mystery gasoline surcharge," or a price gap that can't entirely be explained by fees or other factors.
