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City-level data reveals Sacramento consumes most gasoline per capita; Los Angeles and San Diego top sellers

August 26, 2021 – Joint Venture Silicon Valley has advocated for and obtained additional new data that reveals how much gasoline is consumed at the city level. Joint Venture applauds the California Energy Commission (CEC) for making public a list of 375 California cities that details how much gasoline is sold at retail gas stations in those cities. In January, the CEC released an initial list of 30 cities.

“In Silicon Valley, we use data and metrics to improve lives. This decision from the California Energy Commission will open the door to data and will enable cities to craft the policies we need to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint,” said San José Mayor Sam Liccardo, a Joint Venture Silicon Valley board member and signatory of the letter to the CEC.

The data reveals that Los Angeles and San Diego sell the most gasoline annually, at 511 million gallons and 455 million gallons, respectively. Of the largest cities, Sacramento consumes the most gasoline per capita, at 541 gallons per person per year. Riverside County’s city of Corona tops the overall list for per capita gasoline consumption, at 665 gallons per year.

“Burning gasoline – primarily in cars, trucks and SUVs – is the biggest source of human-caused carbon emissions in California,” said Janelle London, executive director of Joint Venture’s Beyond Gasoline initiative and co-executive director of the nonprofit, Coltura. “Giving the public access to city-level data on gasoline sales will allow residents to track their community’s progress on clean air and climate goals, and to hold themselves and their elected official accountable for cutting gasoline consumption.”

The CEC collects annual gasoline sales volumes from retail gas stations throughout the state. Joint Venture Silicon Valley, Coltura, and elected officials from across Silicon Valley advocated for publication of city gasoline sales data to help local governments set gasoline reduction goals and to evaluate the effectiveness of policies aimed at reducing transportation emissions.

Mayor Liccardo was joined in writing a letter to the CEC by Joint Venture Silicon Valley board members David Pine, Supervisor San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, Susan Ellenberg, Supervisor Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Woodside Mayor Daniel Yost, Matt Mahan, San Jose Councilmember, and Mark Danaj, Fremont City Manager.

The CEC website includes a link to the broader set of gasoline sales for 375 cities. Advocates also obtained more detailed data from the CEC including number of gas stations per city and gasoline sales volumes by zip code.

The CEC website includes the top 30 cities by gasoline sales in millions of gallons:

Top 30 Cities - Gasoline Sales (Million of Gallons)

		2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
1	LOS ANGELES	543	577	570	513	462	490	578	597	553	551
2	SAN DIEGO	424	436	419	351	383	430	458	478	464	455
3	SAN JOSE	264	300	293	279	218	287	324	319	298	311
4	SACRAMENTO	237	260	255	255	174	256	279	284	264	278
5	BAKERSFIELD	191	194	194	179	169	181	221	217	205	204
6	FRESNO	150	154	156	144	108	154	185	192	176	159
7	RIVERSIDE	118	120	119	116	115	127	147	148	154	143
8	LONG BEACH	129	129	134	121	125	120	130	129	127	125
9	ANAHEIM	128	124	129	106	96	115	136	135	129	121
10	SAN FRANCISCO	112	129	127	118	71	107	120	120	105	107
11	CORONA	104	111	105	108	110	111	112	122	110	113
12	STOCKTON	107	102	96	97	80	95	109	109	102	107
13	CHULA VISTA	86	95	86	86	79	103	111	108	112	105
14	MODESTO	84	77	83	66	70	96	103	107	102	89
15	FONTANA	87	84	83	77	75	78	97	94	91	98
16	ONTARIO	85	93	78	78	76	70	110	98	92	84
17	SAN BERNADINO	75	86	83	81	71	80	86	96	91	87
18	TORRANCE	82	88	80	72	75	84	93	84	84	80
19	IRVINE	75	79	78	77	78	79	84	88	87	85
20	OAKLAND	98	90	86	78	51	73	83	89	86	80
21	SANTA ANA	81	75	81	72	81	81	85	84	83	86
22	FREMONT	73	83	83	69	64	77	85	87	76	74
23	ESCONDIDO	74	81	75	66	62	73	77	77	77	81
24	SANTA ROSA	69	68	74	76	60	70	83	83	75	76
25	OXNARD	68	72	64	65	64	69	72	80	85	81
26	ROSEVILLE	63	65	70	53	55	72	80	84	78	85
27	FULLERTON	55	64	67	66	65	65	72	75	81	82
28	EL CAJON	70	69	69	64	53	67	75	77	74	68
29	VAN NUYS	77	75	70	64	65	58	65	75	72	65
30	SALINAS	62	74	66	60	43	73	82	73	74	71