For most average Americans who can’t afford luxury vacations, the family automobile road trip was the most economical way to get away. But no more.
This Labor Day weekend gas prices will be the highest on record, adding more expense to the average family road trip thanks to Donald Trump’s illegal Iran war, which has stifled exports through the Gulf of Hormuz.
An average three-day family holiday by auto, covering roughly 300 to 500 miles round trip, typically will cost between $500 and $900 for a family of four this holiday weekend, according to travel sources.
Families would have to spend between $50 and $100 total on gasoline, based on the current national average price fo regular gas of $4.15 per gallon.
In 2024, the last year of President Joe Biden’s term, gas would have cost between $44 and $83 on average, based on a national average price of $3.30 per gallon.
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Call the 26 percent price difference, the Trump premium that families are being forced to pay for his ill-thought-out Middle East war.
Of course, costs are higher for the average week-long family holiday road trip. By auto, the average trip covers about 1,000 to 2,000 miles and costs roughly $1,200 to $3,500, depending on lodging and dining choices. Gas would cost between $138 and $389 today.
Because of “vacation inflation” across lodging, dining out, and significantly higher pump prices, a mid-range, all-inclusive 400-mile weekend getaway that averaged roughly $500 to $900 in 2024 now costs $700 to $1,200, according to travel sources.
Jet fuel costs have skyrocketed, as well, leading airlines to hike airfare and baggage fees while cutting less profitable flights.
Even for a well-off family that might take a vacation flight from New York to Miami, the costs have jumped significantly. For a family of four flying round-trip from New York (JFK/LGA/EWR) to Miami (MIA), total airfare has gone up by $300 to $400 compared to 2024.
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So much for Trump’s 2024 campaign pledge to lower the price of gasoline to $1.50 a gallon.
Central to his strategy was the famous slogan “Drill, baby, drill,” a commitment to slashing federal regulations, reversing restrictions on fossil fuels, and unlocking American “liquid gold.”
Trump’s latest pledge to seize 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil to help ease prices is another fantasy. Oil experts say it would be years for Venezuela’s heavy sour crude to have an impact on gas prices. Meanwhile, Trump continues to draw down the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve, now at its lowest level since 1980.
The cost of goods and services is also being driven higher by diesel fuel prices, which hit an all-time-high on Friday, just before the holiday weekend.
Until the situation in the Middle East is resolved, the Trump administration is boxed into a corner on energy prices.
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Without a resolution to the Iranian war, national average gas prices are projected to rise into a range of $4.50 to $5.00-plus per gallon during peak periods in 2027.
If the conflict worsens or completely blocks shipping corridors, some catastrophic market models warn of a spike toward $6.00 a gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
“Realistically, the administration will have a tough time doing much about gasoline in the short term. They’ve already pulled most of the levers they can,” Dan Pickering, founder and chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners, told CNN.
The absolute record high price for Labor Day gas was $5.63 a gallon in 208, based on inflation adjusted 2026 dollars. Labor Day gas prices were higher in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina temporarily knocked out Gulf state refineries, and in 2022 compared to today.
Drivers are paying an extra $97 billion since the Iran war started due to higher gas and diesel prices, according to Brown University’s Climate Solutions Lab. That amounts to more than $740 per US household.
Keith Girard has four decades of experience as an award-winning reporter, editor-in-chief, and senior media executive. Keith’s career began in Washington, D.C., where he was a reporter for The Washington Post and a contributing editor for Regardie’s and Washingtonian magazines. He also worked as a writer/producer in CNN’s Washington Bureau and has written non-fiction books on the U.S. Marines in the Gulf War and Donald Trump and two novels, “The Heidelberg Conundrum” and “The Curse of Northam Bay.”