RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. – If you filled up in Murfreesboro, Smyrna, or LaVergne and felt personally attacked by the gas pump, take comfort in knowing it could be worse. Not good, just worse. The average price for regular unleaded across Rutherford County is sitting at $3.67 per gallon, which in today’s economy apparently qualifies as “not the worst news of the day.”
While local drivers debate whether to combine errands or simply stay home forever, the real crown for eye-watering fuel costs belongs to Pickett County, tucked along the Kentucky border. There, regular unleaded is averaging $4.066 per gallon. Yes, a county with fewer people somehow has more expensive gas—because of course it does.
Directly to the west, Williamson County is doing its best impression of “almost the highest,” with prices hovering around $4.060 per gallon in areas like Brentwood and Franklin. For those keeping score, that’s only a fraction below Pickett County, proving that proximity to wealth does not, in fact, guarantee cheaper fuel…