Gasoline has a much higher price now than it did in the 1950s, and it has had some big swings, but when you correct for the rate of inflation,...
1950 or so: $0.27 in 1950 equates to about $3.52/gallon in today’s dollars.
1953-56: in Omaha, Nebraska, gas was $0.179 per gallon in 1953. That’s about $2.11 in today’s money, while the national average of $0.29 is about $3.40 today.
1956-59: In 1956, the national average was $0.30 per gallon, or around $3.47 today; in 1959, it was $0.31, the equivalent of $3.34 today.
2024: Depending on where you live, you might have noticed that the present-day dollar equivalents of those 1950s prices are right in line with what gas currently costs. According to AAA, the current national average is about $3.45 per gallon; the U.S Energy Information Administration lists a similar average of about $3.44 per gallon. By those metrics, the price of gas in 1950 was essentially higher than it is today.
Of course in the intervening years, the price of gasoline dropped and then rose dramatically.
Also, for Canadians, the price of gasoline today is about $1.65Cdn per litre, which translates roughly to about $4.55 US per gallon. Why the difference? My guess is that we pay much higher gas, carbon, and sales tax rates in Canada.
The quoted material is from this site.