Record Labor Day Gas Prices Projected: What NJ Motorists Should Know

Labor Day 2026 is expected to set a record, and not a good one — especially for New Jersey residents who are planning end-of-summer road trips.

The fuel savings platform GasBuddy expects Labor Day gas prices to average $4.03 a gallon nationally, 87 cents higher than last year, and the highest holiday pump price on record. This surpasses the previous record of $3.83 per gallon in 2012.

In New Jersey, the lowest price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Wednesday was $3.79 a gallon on Route 22 in North Plainfield.

AAA, meanwhile, puts the average price for regular gas in New Jersey at $4.21 per gallon. Nationally, gas prices averaged $4.12 a gallon on Wednesday.

The war in Iran and the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical corridor for the world’s crude oil, have squeezed global oil shipments and kept crude costs elevated.

Also contributing to the volatility are Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries that have knocked millions of barrels of processing capacity offline, tightening supplies of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel worldwide.

GasBuddy said these disruptions “have disconnected crude oil prices from fuel prices, pushing refining margins, or ‘crack spreads,’ to record levels, a dynamic that could keep fuel prices elevated this fall and may push diesel prices to record highs in the weeks ahead.

GasBuddy said that historically, Labor Day gas prices have averaged:

• 2022: $3.79 per gallon
• 2023: $3.77 per gallon
• 2024: $3.29 per gallon
• 2025: $3.16 per gallon

Gas prices typically moderate when most of the country switches to cheaper winter blend gasoline after Sept. 15. But how much prices go down depends on what happens in the Middle East.

“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,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a news release.

“Last year saw the cheapest Labor Day since 2020, but the pendulum has swung wildly this summer,” De Haan said. “This year has been less about typical supply and demand and more about uncertainty over how global tensions will affect the availability of crude oil and refined products.”