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If you're headed out of town for the holiday weekend, fill up here first.

Tucson has the cheapest gasoline in the nation right now at $2.91 on average for a gallon of regular gas, according to the weekly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations nationwide.

"If you head to Phoenix for the holiday or pretty much anywhere else in the state, you're going to be paying more for fuel," said AAA Arizona spokeswoman Michelle Donati.

It may not seem cheap to locals. The price of gas in Tucson is up 7 cents from last week and is 73 cents, or 33 percent, higher than last year, according to AAA's own survey, which also pegged the local price of gas at $2.91.

"It's pretty high," said Tshilo Bernini-Galup, a teacher who paid $2.87 a gallon to fill up his Mazda 626 sedan on Monday afternoon. He said he used to be able to fill the tank for $20, so he tries to drive less to save money. He doesn't plan to leave Tucson for Thanksgiving, he said.

Arizona is heading into the 12th consecutive week of rising gasoline prices, Donati said.

This is generally the low-price season for gas in Arizona, because the winter-blend fuel is cheaper and easier to produce, she said.

But crude oil has been trading high, around $94 a barrel on Monday. Since the price of crude accounts for more than two-thirds of the cost of a gallon of gas, when crude prices rise, pump prices do too, Donati said.

The national average price for gasoline rose about 13 cents over the last two weeks, according to the Lundberg Survey released Sunday.

The average price of regular gasoline on Friday was $3.09 a gallon, mid-grade was $3.21, and premium was $3.32, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said.