UPDATED 19:20 PM EST, February 4, 2013
It was a share not seen previously since the early 1980s, when the percentage of household income spent on gas spiked at more than 5 percent before a downward trend set in through 1999.
The share rose last year from just under 4 percent even as Americans drove fewer miles and relied on higher-mileage cars, EIA noted. Gasoline consumption of 134.2 billion gallons was the lowest total since 2001.
