U.S. Gas Prices Hit $4 Per Gallon for First Time Since 2022

The national average price of regular gasoline crossed $4 per gallon for the first time since August 2022, with AAA reporting $4.02 and GasBuddy measuring $4.018. GasBuddy described the milestone as marking "its highest level in nearly four years and the largest monthly gain on record." The crossing came Tuesday, March 31, as the US-Iran war entered its fifth week.

The speed of the climb tells the story. On February 26, the national average stood at $2.983. Within roughly a month it surged about 33 percent, reaching near $3.981 before punching past $4 in the final days of March. AAA put the current figure at over a dollar more than what drivers were paying before the conflict began.

For drivers in California, $4 is a distant memory. The state average reached $5.84 per gallon, the highest in the country per AAA. Hawaii followed at $5.33, Washington at $5.30, Nevada and Oregon each at $4.86, and Arizona at $4.63. Prices at the other end of the spectrum held in the mid-threes: Oklahoma posted the lowest state average at $3.25, Kansas at $3.27, and Iowa at $3.31.

The geopolitical driver is the ongoing US-Iran conflict, with most of the dollar-per-gallon monthly gain accumulating since the outbreak of fighting in the Middle East. Seasonal demand added to the pressure: spring break travel pushed gasoline consumption higher, contributing to additional pump price increases. A structural factor also kept prices from easing. Most domestic US crude production is light, sweet crude, but refineries on the East and West coasts are primarily configured to process heavier, sour product, requiring imports and exposing American fuel prices to global supply disruptions.

The pattern has historical precedent. The national average climbed above $5 a gallon in June 2022, nearly four months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions on a major oil producer. Prices retreated from that record, and per AAA data, the national average had stayed below $4 since mid-August 2022 until Tuesday.

Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi's state-run energy giant ADNOC, addressed the broader toll while speaking via videolink from the United Arab Emirates: "This is raising the cost of living for those who can least afford it and slowing economic growth everywhere. From factories to farms to families around the world, the human cost is mounting by the day."

Policymakers responded on multiple fronts. The International Energy Agency pledged to release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency stockpiles of member nations, including the United States, despite the Trump administration initially downplaying the need for reserve releases. The Trump administration eased sanctions to free up oil from Venezuela and, temporarily, Russia. The White House also announced a 60-day waiver of maritime shipping requirements under the Jones Act, a more than century-old law governing domestic waterborne trade.

Whether those interventions will register at the pump remains uncertain. Refineries purchase crude oil in advance, meaning facilities may be working through oil bought at higher prices for weeks to come, and any new supply will take time to reach consumers.