U.S. gas prices hit highest Memorial Day level since 2022
Gasoline averaged $4.56 a gallon heading into Memorial Day, the highest holiday level since 2022 and $1.38 above last year. That is forcing road-trippers to trim distance and rethink spending.
Higher gas prices were already changing how Americans planned Memorial Day trips before the holiday weekend began, with the national average for regular gasoline reaching $4.56 a gallon on May 21. That was 3 cents above the prior week and $1.38 higher than the same time in 2025, bringing pump prices close to the 2022 Memorial Day average of $4.61.
The squeeze landed just as travel hit a record. AAA projected 45 million Americans would travel at least 50 miles from home between Thursday, May 21, and Monday, May 25, including 39.1 million by car and 3.66 million by air. Driving still accounted for 87% of Memorial Day travelers, which means the pain from higher gasoline costs fell most heavily on families taking road trips rather than on the much smaller share of flyers.
For households, the math is immediate. A tank of gas is no longer a routine stop in the budget when prices are this far above last year, and that tends to push travelers toward shorter drives, fewer detours and cheaper destinations once they arrive. Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer travel, and this year’s kickoff came with a price tag that made every extra mile more expensive.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said the Monday-before-Memorial-Day gas price was the highest since 2022, when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine drove sharp increases in crude oil prices. Crude oil typically makes up about half of the retail gasoline price, so swings in oil markets still shape what drivers pay at the pump. Temporary refinery outages and maintenance were also helping push prices higher in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain region, adding regional pressure to an already costly holiday.
Air travel offered some relief for the minority who could skip the highway, but not enough to offset the broad impact of gasoline on Memorial Day budgets. With most travelers still driving, the holiday remained a story of families deciding whether to shorten the trip, stay closer to home or absorb the higher fuel bill in order to keep summer plans intact.
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