Sky-High Gas Prices Are Changing the Way Americans Live
DENVER – “It’s funny.” “It’s sad.” A “sacrifice” is required.
From New York to California, Florida to New Jersey, little red numbers at gas stations remind Americans that driving just got a lot more expensive. Drivers across the country spoke to USA TODAY reporters as gas prices hit a national average of $4 a gallon, the highest they’ve been since Aug. 8, 2022, according to price tracking service GasBuddy.
It’s not just the price, but the magnitude of the increase caused by President Donald Trump’s attack on Iran that has some drivers surprised. In one month, prices rose $1.05, the largest one-month jump on record by GasBuddy.
Drivers said the shocking price hikes are reshaping the way they live, work and travel, with high travel costs cutting into wages, and high prices making it difficult to visit family or take holidays.
Small Business Owners Are Feeling the Squeeze
For Amit Verma of Arlington, Virginia, the price hike is making him rethink driving entirely. On March 31, Verma, 30, paid $70 to fill up his 2015 Audi S7 before his 35-minute drive to Bethesda, Maryland. He said taking the metro adds about 15 minutes to his commute, but that’s worth it when fuel prices stay high.
“It seems like a problem that our administration may have created for themselves, unnecessarily, and a lot of people have to pay the price,” said Verma, who works in investments. He said he is worried that the increase in fuel prices will again burden Americans who have felt inflation for years under presidents Biden and Trump.
Sacramento-based landscape painter Doug Guster, 71, said he has lost more than $800 in profits from his business because of rising gas prices. Just filling up his work truck costs about $100 a tank, he said, and he has leaf blowers, lawn mowers and maintenance equipment to keep it blowing.
“In the last few weeks, I’ve lost like five or six customers because I have to raise my prices — all because of these high gas prices,” said Guster while filling up at a Foods Co. gas station. in Sacramento. “I didn’t want to. But if not, it comes out of my pockets, more money than my car.”
Near Denver International Airport, Texas-based health coach Michael Bates said he hopes higher fuel prices force Trump to backtrack on Iran. Filling up his rental Jeep Wrangler for $3.69 a gallon before returning it, Bates said he voted for Trump in 2024 in part because he wanted cheaper prices.
“I’m not happy with the way he’s been handling things, I voted for the guy,” said Bates. “And it will hurt him if he can’t do something about this. I hope this will provide the necessary pressure to get out of this illegal war.”
How Did Electricity Prices Get Here?
Trump took office last year on promises to lower the cost of living, most notably promising gas for $2 a gallon. Many of his administration’s efforts aim to roll back environmental and other laws the White House has accused of raising gas prices during the Biden years.
But Trump’s decision to attack Iran on February 28 has dramatically increased fuel prices, from diesel to jet fuel to gas purchased by hundreds of millions of American drivers. The president has long argued that the United States should produce more oil and gas domestically, to protect consumers from international volatility.
Although the president called for low fuel prices during his State of the Union address in February, he has largely avoided talking about high prices since ordering the strike. And some of his supporters have predicted that fuel prices will fall as tensions near the Strait of Hormuz ease and more oil tankers pass through.
The EPA on March 26 issued a temporary waiver that as of May 1 will allow more ethanol-based gas to be blended into gasoline. While most gas already has blended ethanol, the waiver would allow up to 15% nationwide, potentially lowering pump prices for a month. Usually made from corn, ethanol is made in the United States, but is often kept off the gas in the summer due to air pollution concerns.
Nationally, gasoline prices remain below their highest levels, set on June 14, 2022, when the national average reached $5.01 a liter.
Drivers Shift to Coast
For many Americans, energy prices have been a deciding factor in the 2024 presidential election. For Virginia resident Tim Southern, 60, today’s high electricity prices are a small price to pay to support Trump. Filling up at Wawa in Charlottesville, Virginia, at $3.99 a gallon, Southern said he sees no evidence that people are changing their driving habits.
“I believe in what the president is doing, so if it means I use more gas to free some people in other countries … it’s a small sacrifice on my part,” he said.
An unofficial USA TODAY survey of drivers found Southern to be in the minority.
Most common were the experiences of drivers like Tasha Hill, 36. After a 700-mile trip down the eastern seaboard from Virigina, Hill stopped to fill up along the tourist-oriented stretch of International Drive in Orlando. Hill drove down with four family members to visit the Disney and Universal parks, and had paid less than $4 a gallon to fill up as they drove through the Carolinas and Georgia.
The family rented a car for a long trip, and took a hybrid Toyota Camry that the car rental company staff assured them would save them money on gas. Seeing his first gas over $4 for the trip — $4.29 a gallon — Hill said he’s glad he made the decision to rent a fuel-efficient car.
“That’s strange,” he said as he watched the gallons pouring into Wawa.
In New Jersey, Kim Reckeweg said the higher rates mean she’s adjusting her budget. Reckeweg put $10 into his 2015 Honda Civic as his four-year-old grandson played in the back seat. He was thankful that he paid $3.99 a gallon instead of the high $4.19 he had seen a mile away.
“It makes it difficult to walk, walk around,” she said. She picks up her grandson from Haddon Township every day, then cares for him and two other grandchildren at her home in Washington Township, about 15 miles away.
Paying more for gas, he said, “takes away any ‘extra’ expenses, like going out to eat once in a while.”
In New York City, prices were occasionally above $6 a gallon. At Mobil in midtown Manhattan near Times Square, cars slowly made their way to the pumps where the price was $6.09 a gallon. Taxi driver Mamadou Kone said his Toyota RAV4 hybrid comes with high prices, but he cannot stop driving if he wants to earn.
“I’m a driver, I don’t have a choice,” said Kone, 61, a father of five from East Harlem. “Right now we are paying this money,” he said.
Manhattan resident and florist Janael Grullon, 47, said she used to ride an electric skateboard to work to cut costs. Fortunately, his job pays for the gas to fuel his Ford Transit van, he said.
“No one will be able to handle it, because the prices are too high,” Grullon said in Spanish.
Who Gets Beaten the Most?
Skyler McKinley, regional director of public affairs for AAA, said drivers often start to change their driving habits when the price of gas rises above $4 a gallon. AAA’s 2022 survey conducted the last time gas prices rose to this level found that 64% of drivers reacted quickly, mostly by driving less, combining trips and spending less money on shopping or eating out.
“Things are going incredibly well as prices go up,” McKinley said.
McKinley said the challenge for policymakers is that the people most able to afford higher fuel prices — remote workers — have an easier time adjusting. The most affected drivers, he said, are people who go to low-wage jobs in restaurants or other workplaces where their physical presence is mandatory.
Tatiana Garcia, 23, drives her 2011 BMW 535i from her home in Centerville, Virginia, to destinations sometimes 35 miles away each day for her dog walking business, Furry Paw Friends. Her profit margins have been shrinking as gas prices have risen, Garcia said, and she’s had to rely on pet sitters to watch customers from afar so she doesn’t drive too much.
He said he can no longer afford to buy more treats for the animals he watches and is preparing to soon raise his rates for the first time since he started this business two years ago.
“I’m not making that much money right now, because I was spending a lot of money on gas,” said Garcia. “It’s just amazing.”
He paid $72 to fill his tank with about 16 gallons of premium gas on Tuesday, March 31. That’s about the cost that other members of his family who own electric cars spend a month charging, Garcia said.
Looking at the $70 mark on her gas pump, Tatiana Garcia said she’s considering buying a Tesla.
At an Exxon gas station in Philadelphia, Andre Williams watches as his 2017 Chevy Malibu takes $60 worth of gas, up from $40 a few months ago. Williams said he now takes the train regularly, and blamed “our current president” for the pump pain.
Close customer Daniel Perez, 37, agreed, as he paid $4.19 a gallon on March 31 to fill up his Honda CRV. Perez said he has been repairing his bike closely so he can ride it more often and avoid high gas prices.
“I feel like it’s definitely Trump’s fault,” Perez said.
Near Denver, Breya Lewallen, 28, pulled up to a QuikTrip pump to fill up her Toyota 4Runner on the first leg of a 12-hour drive back to her home in Texas. Lewallen drove to Colorado to visit family with her baby and dog, leaving her husband at home to go to work. He went to the gas station, paid with his credit card and pretended to close his eyes as gas poured into his tank at $3.65 a gallon.
“Wow,” he said as the total climbed past $42. “I don’t even want to know.”
Contributors: Trevor Hughes, Dinah Pulver, Karissa Waddick, Brianna Frank, Mike Stunson, Phaedra Trethan, Eduardo Cuevas, Noe Padilla, Kaitlyn McCormick
This article first appeared in USA TODAY: ‘Outrageous’: High gas prices are changing the way Americans live
Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY / USA TODAY reports
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
