The national average price for a gallon of regular gas is nearly $5, according to GasBuddy data.
It's no surprise for the millions of drivers who have spent months now shouldering the weight of expensive gas, but it's a strain nonetheless heading into summer travel.
With a fill-up costing $9,000 for a 2,000 gallon tank these days, some fishing boat captains are upping the price to customers, and some ride share drivers are considering an entirely new line of work thanks to the cost.
The culprit? It depends on who you ask.
"We have fewer refineries than we did three years ago, and that's meant that even with lower demand because of higher price it’s been hard for refineries to keep up with demand, and that's why inventories are at seasonally record low levels," said Patrick De Haan, Gas Buddy analyst.
The best answer is that it might be a mix of everything, from the war in Ukraine to refinery back-ups and global supply chain hangups.
It won't see a fix overnight.
"It's really going to take a massive increase in oil production to help meet that growing demand or, unfortunately, it might take a recession to help kind of push some of that demand down," said Mark Jenkins, AAA spokesperson.
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