WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Price of gasoline across the United States dropped last week, according to the data released by U.S. Energy Information Administration on Monday.

For the week ending Monday, the average price of regular gasoline across the country dropped from 2.421 U.S. dollars per gallon to 2.369 dollars per gallon. Over the year, the price per gallon fell 8.1 cents.

For West Coast area which includes the states of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii, the price dropped from 3.171 to 3.114 dollars per gallon.

For Rocky Mountain area which includes the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho, the price dropped from 2.655 to 2.575 dollars per gallon.

For Midwest area, which stands for the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee, the price fell from 2.21 to 2.135 dollars per gallon.

For Gulf Coast area which includes the states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and New Mexico, the price decreased from 2.074 to 2.031 dollars per gallon.

For East Coast area, which includes all other states close to the Atlantic Ocean, the price fell from 2.384 to 2.352 dollars per gallon.

Over the year, gasoline prices in East Coast area, Midwest area and Gulf Coast area dropped 8.6 cents, 18.9 cents and 13.3 cents respectively. On the contrary, prices for West Coast area and Rocky Mountain area rose 15.3 cents and 9.9 cents respectively from a year ago.