Gas prices at record high for any Labor Day weekend

September 7, 2026 / 4:47 AM EDT / CBS/AP

It's never been more expensive in the U.S. to fill up the tank and take one last summer trip over the Labor Day weekend.

The average price of regular gas was $4.14 a gallon heading into the holiday, nearly a dollar higher than last year and well above the Labor Day weekend record of $3.82 from 2012, according to the AAA motor club.

Gas prices have never topped $4 per gallon on Labor Day, AAA noted.

Prices shot up after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February and haven't settled down since. Crude oil traffic through the key Strait of Hormuz has plunged, and Iran has refused to reopen the waterway.

"Everything points to the Iran War and the Strait of Hormuz," said Tom Seng, a professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright offered few specifics on when the nation's drivers might see relief at the gas pump, acknowledging that prices are higher now than Labor Day 2025.

"Yes, they're higher today, but we're doing everything we can to push them down," Wright said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

The national average for regular gas…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/