How Consumers Pay for Gasoline

Abstract

Using survey data on consumer payments choice in the United States, the paper analyzes the payment methods that consumers use for purchasing gasoline at gas stations. The use of cash has declined between 2021 and 2025 whereas the use of credit and debit card payments has moderately (and non-monotonically) increased over these years. Cash is more often used in rural areas and cards in urban areas. Cash use declines with household income but not with age. Regression and random forest techniques are then used to analyze the effects of demographic and transaction-specific variables on how consumers pay at gas stations.

Keywords: gas stations, gasoline, consumer demographics, payment methods, consumer payments choice, transaction-specific variables

JEL Classification: E42, L99, Q49