As Gas Prices Soar, Car Commuters Worry They Can’t Afford the Drive to Work

Not every commuter is experiencing the same increase in gas costs, depending on where they live in the U.S. GasBuddy price data across approximately 100 major metro areas reveals a sharp geographic divide in where prices have risen the most over the past 30 days.

U.S. Metro Areas with the Largest Gas Price Increases in 30 Days

Per-gallon price of regular unleaded gas

Source: GasBuddy Fuel Insights, April 2026

Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Arkansas, a metro that rarely headlines national energy coverage, sits at the top of this list. On average, drivers here experienced a $1.45/gallon increase in a single month. Cape Coral-Fort Myers (+$1.44) and Bakersfield (+$1.40) are close behind. Still, the breadth of the top 25 is its most notable feature: the list spans the Sun Belt, the California interior, the Mountain West, the Mid-Atlantic, and even Honolulu. This is not a regional story, but one that impacts American workers from coast to coast.

There is, however, a part of the country that has been relatively spared from soaring costs at the pump. Midwest cities, particularly in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri, have experienced far smaller increases.

Major U.S. Metros With Smallest 30-Day Price Increases

Source: GasBuddy, April 3, 2026

Tulsa’s $0.34 increase is less than a quarter of what Fayetteville commuters absorbed, though the two cities are just 113 miles apart. Proximity to domestic oil production, pipeline infrastructure, and lower state fuel taxes all likely contribute to the Midwest’s relative insulation, though no major metro has escaped entirely.

The recent price surge has landed on a workforce that was already stretched. Seventy-eight percent of employed U.S. car commuters say their gas spending has risen in the last 30 days. Among workers facing higher car commuting costs, 61 percent worry they won’t be able to afford gas if prices keep rising.

Before prices began surging, the average U.S. car commuter was already spending approximately $43 per week on gas for work travel. That figure has climbed to roughly $58 per week, a $15/week increase absorbed in a matter of weeks. Now, the average person who drives to work spends around $230 a month on gas.

However, price anxiety is not equally distributed across age groups.

Concern About Gas Affordability

Among car-commuting workers whose fuel costs have risen in the past 30 days

Source: AutoInsurance.com survey of 1,026 U.S. workers.

Workers aged 18 to 29 are the most likely to be “very concerned” about gas affordability (32 percent), while workers aged 45 to 59 are nearly twice as likely as the youngest group to report no concern at all (18 percent vs. nine percent). This is largely explained by economic vulnerability: younger workers are disproportionately in part-time roles, earlier in their earning curves, and less likely to have financial reserves. A $58/week gas bill lands differently depending on what else it competes with in a budget, and for younger commuters, the competition is steep.

Faced with a cost they largely cannot avoid, American car commuters are creatively responding to rising gas costs. Three distinct coping strategies emerge from our survey data, dividing almost entirely along demographic lines.

Actions Taken to Offset Rising Gas Commute Costs,

Among car-commuting workers whose fuel costs have risen in the past 30 days

Source: AutoInsurance.com survey of 1,026 U.S. workers. Multiple responses allowed.

Women are absorbing the shock by cutting household spending. Among women facing higher car commuting costs, more than half (54 percent) have pulled back on dining out or fast food, significantly more than men (46 percent). More than one in three women (36 percent) have reduced grocery spending, compared to just 23 percent of men. These are not occasional sacrifices; they represent an active reallocation of the household budget.

Younger workers, by contrast, are changing their labor market behavior. Nearly half of workers aged 18 to 29 whose fuel spend has increased have taken on extra work or a side job to offset commuting costs, more than double the rate among workers aged 45 to 59 (23 percent). Fifteen percent of this age group are considering switching to a job closer to home, compared to just seven to eight percent of older workers. They are the most behaviorally reactive group in our survey, and the adjustments they are making extend well beyond spending cuts.

Interestingly, only five percent of all commuters have increased carpooling in response to increased fuel prices, and just four percent have shifted to using public transit more. The two most cost-effective non-solo alternatives to driving are barely registering as responses, a finding that may reflect both the speed of the price surge and the limited public transit access that defines most of the commuter markets hit hardest in this data.

Looking further ahead, 20 percent of commuters said they are likely to purchase an electric or hybrid vehicle in the next 12 months as a direct result of rising gas prices. That intent is notable, but it remains a longer-term consideration for most. For now, the dominant responses are cuts to everyday spending and, especially among younger workers, taking on extra income to make up the gap.

Eighty-six percent of car commuters say their employers haven’t offered relief or support in the midst of rising gas costs: no gas stipend, no expanded remote flexibility, no transit benefit. Across demographic groups, the story is essentially the same: workers are on their own when it comes to the cost of getting to work.

Employer Actions Taken to Help Offset Rising Commute Costs

Source: AutoInsurance.com survey of 1,026 U.S. workers. Multiple responses allowed.

That near-universal inaction is more pointed alongside a second finding: 26 percent of workers in our survey have been subject to an expanded return-to-office mandate in the past 12 months, requiring more in-office days than before. One in four workers has been told to commute more, and the overwhelming majority are receiving no help with the cost.Only 19 percent of workers say they have started working from home more frequently since gas prices began rising. This aligns with one of the quieter but more important findings in the data: having theoretical remote capability does not translate into actually using it. Actual on-site and remote-day patterns have not shifted significantly, even among workers with some WFH flexibility. Gas prices alone are not enough to shift real work location behavior when employers have not signaled that remote options are encouraged.

Our survey data points to a commuting landscape under sustained pressure with few structural release valves in the near term. The International Energy Agency has described the current supply disruption as the largest in the history of the global oil market. The Energy Information Administration projected in March 2026 that retail gas prices could remain elevated through the second quarter before moderating later in the year. However, those projections may be revised as conditions continue to shift.

For U.S. car commuters, the arithmetic is straightforward and uncomfortable: prices may not yet be at their ceiling, employers are not letting up on RTO mandates, and the workers with the least financial cushion are already showing the most strain. The $15/week increase absorbed in the past 30 days may not be the last that U.S. commuters experience this year.

This study was conducted as an online survey of 1,026 U.S. adults, fielded on March 31, 2026. Participants were recruited through a reputable online research platform and pre-screened for eligibility. The study was limited to individuals employed full-time or part-time who commuted to work by car. The sample was approximately evenly divided by sex.

The questionnaire covered weekly commuting gas expenditures, recent increases in commuting costs, concerns about affording gas, behavioral adjustments in response to rising gas prices, return-to-office mandates, work-from-home flexibility, employer-provided relief, commute duration and distance, and the emotional and personal effects of commuting. The instrument used a combination of open numeric entries, closed-ended categorical items, select-all-that-apply questions, and scaled response options. Analysis was restricted to completed surveys from respondents who met the employment and commuting criteria. No weighting was applied during analysis.

At a sample size of 1,026, the conventional maximum margin of sampling error is approximately plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. Subgroup figures carry wider margins. Survey figures reflect self-reported data; gas spend figures represent respondent estimates, not verified transaction records.

City-level gas price data is sourced from GasBuddy fuel insights across approximately 100 of the largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas with available data, as of April 3, 2026. Current average prices were compared against each market’s prior-month average. Metro-level figures reflect area averages and may not capture hyperlocal variation within each MSA.