Drivers who commute between Broward and Palm Beach counties may notice a bit of sticker shock when they travel northward over the county line — gas prices seem to shoot up as soon as you cross the border.
One of those frustrated motorists wrote in as part of the Sun Sentinel’s Sound Off South Florida project, in which we attempt to answer reader-submitted questions. “Why is gas so much more expensive in Palm Beach County than Broward County?” the reader wondered. “It’s usually $0.15 higher in Boca than Deerfield.”
It doesn’t help that Deerfield Beach has some of the lowest gas prices in Broward County according to the Gas Buddy app, which tracks gas prices over a given geographic location, and that Boca Raton has among the highest in Palm Beach County.
But county-wide averages show that Palm Beach County as a whole does stand out for its priciness.
According to the American Automobile Association, which tracks gas prices by county across the country, the average price in Miami-Dade and Broward counties is $2.43 a gallon, while Palm Beach County’s average is $2.51.
The highs and lows in each county tell the same story.
Using the Gas Buddy app Tuesday, we found that the most expensive gas in Broward County was $2.69 a gallon, out at Everglades Holiday Park. The cheapest was $2.09 a gallon at Costco on Wiles Road in Coral Springs, and at an Exxon station on Wiles Road about three miles east of the Costco.
In Palm Beach County, the most expensive gas was $3.19 a gallon at a 7-Eleven on the northwest corner of Jog Road and Boynton Beach Boulevard in Boynton Beach, and prices well above Broward County’s high were not uncommon. The cheapest gas appeared to be at a Mobil station in West Palm Beach on the corner of Federal Highway and Forest Hill Boulevard, at $2.19 a gallon.
The highest anywhere in South Florida appeared to be the Chevron at Alton Road and 15th Street in Miami Beach at $3.29 a gallon, but outside of South Beach, prices in Miami-Dade were comparable to Broward.
You might think fuel taxes are higher in Palm Beach County, but that’s not the case. Counties can increase their fuel taxes through what’s called an “additional local option.” But both Broward and Palm Beach counties charge five cents per gallon for this tax. Miami-Dade County is cheaper, at three cents.
According to the Florida Department of Revenue, for 2019, the total state and local gas taxes in both Broward and Palm Beach counties is 0.38025 cents per gallon. The tax is two cents per gallon cheaper in Miami-Dade due to the lower additional local option.
So, when you factor in the lower tax, real gas prices in Miami-Dade are actually slightly higher than in Broward, but still nowhere close to Palm Beach County.
Much of the cost of gas — oil prices, refining, distribution and so on — is baked into the price you pay at the pump. And it’s that last factor that could be at work here.
“A big thing to consider, which is likely the key here, is transportation costs, due to the distance to the supply source,” said Mark Jenkins, a consultant with the American Automobile Association. “The majority of the gasoline in your region comes from Port Everglades. Although some gasoline comes in through the Port of Palm Beach, the bulk of fuel imports is diesel. So the fact that gasoline has to be trucked from Port Everglades to Palm Beach, means transportation fees.”
Slight differences between locations can also occur because of what retailers believe the market will bear. Jenkins allowed that it’s a possibility Palm Beach County is more expensive based on higher median household income, though he said he did not have data to support the idea.
According to census data, the median household income in Palm Beach County is $53,242, while the median household income in Broward County is $51,694. Put another way, the median household income in Palm Beach County is 9.7 percent higher than in Broward, or just slightly more than the increased cost of gas.
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dsweeney@SunSentinel.com, 954-356-4605 or Twitter @Daniel_Sweeney