Gas prices near 34465

Don't let the name fool you. This Beverly Hills is a retirement-heavy community in the rolling hills of Citrus County, platted in the 1950s and now home to a large population of older residents who keep their driving steady and their fuel budgets tight. That demographic, more than any highway, sets the tone at the pumps here.

There is no interstate near this corner of north-central Florida, so fuel demand is purely local. County Road 491, the North Lecanto Highway, runs along the edge of the community and carries most of the through-traffic, with U.S. 41 a few miles northeast toward Hernando and Inverness. The stations that draw the bigger crowds tend to sit where 491 and the local connectors meet, and they answer to one another rather than to any passing-traveler stream.

Because so many drivers here are on fixed incomes and run regular errands to Crystal River or Inverness, it usually pays to fill up on those trips at the busier stations along the main roads rather than at an isolated corner inside the community. The gap is rarely dramatic in a market this quiet, but on a senior's budget the few cents matter.