U.S. Gasoline Prices headed for Labor Day Record; Diesel heading for All Time Record

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WASHINGTON, DC (September 3, 2026) – Labor Day weekend travelers are facing the highest gas prices ever for this time of year. The national average is $4.14, up 4 cents from last week. Continued volatility in the Strait of Hormuz has pushed crude oil prices in the $90 per barrel range. After a record-setting August, this Labor Day weekend is on track to also set a record at the pump. The national average has never been above $4 per gallon on Labor Day. The current Labor Day record is $3.82, set on September 3, 2012. Even though gasoline demand decreases this time of year, typically bringing down gas prices, this year is different due to the high cost of crude oil.

Today’s National Average: $4.1436
One Week Ago: $4.0997
One Month Ago: $4.0946
One Year Ago: $3.1903

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The nation’s top 10 most expensive gasoline markets are California ($5.78), Washington ($5.47), Hawaii ($5.41), Oregon ($4.98), Alaska ($4.96), Nevada ($4.91), Idaho ($4.62), Arizona ($4.52), Utah ($4.42), and Montana ($4.38).

The nation’s top 10 least expensive gasoline markets are Indiana ($3.44), Texas ($3.69), Oklahoma ($3.71), Mississippi ($3.71), Louisiana ($3.75), Arkansas ($3.77), South Carolina ($3.78), Kansas ($3.78), Alabama ($3.79), and Wisconsin ($3.80).

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The average price of diesel in the United States hit $5.7832 per gallon on Thursday, which is just three cents lower than the record-high of $5.8159 in mid-June 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent fuel prices to record highs, data from AAA showed.

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Diesel prices are also a major concern, including for the U.S. economy and the interest rate path of the Fed, as diesel is essential for economic growth and inflation of the price of goods.

Diesel markets in the United States and globally have severely tightened in recent weeks, amid crippled fuel supply from the Middle East and Russia, due to the Iran and Ukraine wars, rising seasonal demand with the harvest season, and insufficient capacity elsewhere to compensate the lost diesel flows from the Strait of Hormuz and Russia.

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“At this pace, we could even break the all-time diesel record ($5.819/gal) by Labor Day,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on Wednesday.

The analyst also said that Gulf Coast spot diesel prices hit a record earlier this week.

“The market is short- buyers bidding up every drop like a housing market with too few homes…higher retail diesel prices coming *coast to coast*,” De Haan said.

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