National Gas Average Hits $4.14 a Gallon, Setting Record for Most Expensive Labor Day Ever

Gas has never cost this much heading into Labor Day. The national average hit $4.14 a gallon on Thursday, September 3, and climbed to roughly $4.15 by Friday, September 4, according to AAA. That beats the previous Labor Day record of $3.82 a gallon, set on September 3, 2012, AAA says.

Diesel is worse. AAA's Friday figure put the national diesel average at $5.85 a gallon, up 24 cents in a single week and an all-time record, according to Kelley Blue Book's reporting on AAA data.

Why Prices Are Up

AAA is blunt about the cause: "Continued volatility in the Strait of Hormuz has pushed crude oil prices in the $90 per barrel range," the group said in its September 3 release. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading above $95 a barrel on Friday, up from roughly $70 before the U.S.-Iran conflict began in late February, according to reporting cited by Kelley Blue Book.

GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, told FOX 59 this will be the most expensive Labor Day "by far," noting the prior record was $3.83 a gallon in 2012 by GasBuddy's own tally, compared to AAA's $3.82. Both trackers agree: nothing has come close to this before.

Diesel has its own separate driver. Energy analyst Gregory Brew told NBC News that Russia is normally the world's second-largest diesel exporter after the U.S., but Ukrainian drone strikes have knocked Russian refineries offline, gutting Eastern European diesel exports and tightening global supply. That's on top of the Hormuz disruption. The Associated Press, cited by Kelley Blue Book, noted that higher diesel costs are already showing up as added fees on shipping and online orders, with more sticker shock likely to hit store shelves.

Where It Hurts Most

California has the nation's highest gas price at $5.78 a gallon, followed by Washington at $5.47 and Hawaii at $5.41, according to AAA data reported by Main Street Daily News. Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Utah and Montana round out the ten most expensive states, all above $4.38.

The cheapest gas is in Indiana at $3.44, followed by Texas at $3.69, Oklahoma and Mississippi at $3.71, and Louisiana at $3.75. Even the cheapest state today would have counted as expensive a year ago, when the national average sat at $3.20, according to AAA.

An analysis by Business Insider comparing AAA prices from August 27 to September 4 found gas costs in several top markets running 25% to 39% higher than the same date last year. Demand has actually started to ease, per federal data cited by Main Street Daily News. The Energy Information Administration reported gasoline demand fell from 9.04 million barrels a day to 8.92 million barrels a day since August 27, while gasoline production held flat at 9.8 million barrels a day. Normally that seasonal drop-off cools prices heading into fall. AAA says this year the high cost of crude oil is overriding that usual pattern.

The Political Backdrop

The Washington Examiner points out that President Trump campaigned on lowering gas prices, and for a stretch he delivered. The national average hit a five-year low of $2.79 a gallon on January 12, 2026. Prices then climbed steadily after the Iran conflict began, reaching $3.86 by late June, $4.06 by the end of July, and $4.19 in August, according to EIA figures cited by the Examiner.

Trump announced what he called "the biggest oil deal in world history" with Venezuela on August 28, claiming the U.S. secured majority control of more than 65 billion barrels in reserves. "This Historic Transaction MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves, greatly increases our Oil Supply, and will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future," Trump wrote, according to the Daily Wire. That's a claim about future prices, not a change that has shown up at the pump yet. The national average has kept climbing since the deal was announced.

The administration also says oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz has recovered. American officials told the Daily Wire that a wartime-high 18 million barrels moved through the strait on a single day this week, above pre-war levels. Neither AAA nor GasBuddy's public statements credit that recovery with bringing prices down yet.

De Haan struck a cautious note in GasBuddy's Labor Day forecast, reported by the Rockland County Times: "It's been a challenging year for motorists, with constant ups and downs at the pump that stayed elevated into this final summer holiday, though relief may lie ahead if tensions ease." He added that the shift to cheaper winter-blend gasoline after September 15 could bring some relief, but cautioned that geopolitical tensions could delay it.

What happens next depends largely on two unresolved fronts: whether the Strait of Hormuz stays open and stable, and whether Russian refinery capacity comes back online. Neither AAA nor GasBuddy is forecasting when, or whether, prices fall back under $4 a gallon this fall.