Gas prices near 95945

Grass Valley sits up in the Sierra foothills at the crossroads of State Routes 49 and 20, an old Gold Rush town about an hour northeast of Sacramento. That elevation and distance from the valley fuel terminals is the defining fact for prices here: stations are fewer and farther between than down the hill, and they generally run a bit higher than Sacramento or the Central Valley to reflect the haul up.

Most of the fuel is strung along the Highway 49 corridor and near the Highway 20 junction, the routes that carry both local traffic and the tourists headed for Nevada City, Truckee, and the high country. The historic downtown around Mill Street is a pedestrian-scaled district with little room for gas stations, so the pumps live out on the highway approaches.

If you are continuing east on 20 or up 49 toward the mountains, this is a sensible place to fill, because options get sparse and pricier the higher and more remote you go. For day-to-day driving, comparing the handful of stations along the two highways is about all the choice the town offers, but the gap between them is still worth a look.