Brandon Moore began his Monday morning on the hunt for the cheapest gas in Birmingham, Ala. As a delivery driver who buys his own fuel, he was feeling the sting of rapidly rising prices tied to a war thousands of miles away.
As he loaded bags of printing paper into his trunk for his third delivery of the day, Mr. Moore said he had quickly adopted a new driving route so he could compare prices at multiple gas stations. On Monday, he filled his tank for $2.89 per gallon, up from $2.60 last week. He said he could absorb the increases — for now.
“I am just hoping it doesn’t get too much worse,” said Mr. Moore, 41, who works as an independent contractor for Walmart Spark. “I am watching the news, trying to figure out what is going to happen with this war and what it’s going to mean every time I go to the gas station.”
As the U.S.-led war with Iran enters a second week, drivers across the country — particularly ride-share workers and those whose daily routines includes gas-guzzling commutes — are reeling at the extra expense. The average price of U.S. gasoline reached $3.48 a gallon on Monday, according to data from AAA, with the highest prices in California and other western states.
Rapidly rising energy costs — jet fuel and diesel have also become more expensive since the war began — are rooted in the supply of crude oil coming from the Persian Gulf. Tankers that normally carry oil there are not sailing, cutting the world off from about one-fifth of its oil supply. The price of oil jumped above $100 a barrel on Monday after attacks intensified, although it had fallen by late afternoon.
The price spikes have forced people already contending with higher costs of living to consider how they might stretch their budgets further for an essential expense. Gas prices have jumped by nearly 17 percent since Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel first attacked Iran; gas costs have not been at these levels since 2024.
With no sense of how long the conflict will last, consumers are already thinking about ways to cut costs, by using apps to find the least expensive gas in their area, for example, and using their vehicles less.
Some are viewing high gas prices through a political lens, asking themselves if President Trump is to blame. Others suspect price gouging or backroom dealing.
Luke Roan, 57, commutes about 60 miles round-trip from Bethlehem, Pa., to Clinton, N.J., for work as a prison psychologist. A tank of gas typically costs him $32, he said, but on Monday he paid $43.
He has been using the app Gas Buddy to find the least expensive gas in his area, and his family members have already started to consolidate trips when they leave the house.
Mr. Roan, who voted for Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, blames Mr. Trump for the high prices, specifically his decision to attack Iran. “I do blame him and his administration for the instability that’s causing this,” Mr. Roan said. “It’s harder to exist with the price of everything going up, and I expect it to get worse.”
Jan Potts did not like what she saw as she pulled into the gas station near her house in Bethlehem: A sign advertising regular unleaded for $3.79 per gallon. Pennsylvania had the highest gas prices on the East Coast on Monday, according to AAA.
A retired former truck driver, Ms. Potts, 66, filled up the 12-gallon tank of her 2025 Hyundai Tucson several weeks ago for about $30, using a Giant grocery store discount. Monday, the price was $45.48.
She voted for Mr. Trump and said she did not like war, but that the one being waged against Iran might be necessary. The war, she added, will be weaponized.
“If what I heard — that Iran was going to attack us — if that was true, then he was smart to do it,” she said of Mr. Trump. “If not, then maybe it was uncalled for.”
In Hawaii, where gas prices averaged $4.52 per gallon on Monday, Ben Bergin, 47, a project manager at a well drilling company, said that local businesses could not afford to raise wages to absorb their workers’ higher fuel costs.
“I have entire crews of guys who live in the Hilo area but commute to Waikoloa daily,” he said, referencing the approximately 120-mile round trip. “Their fuel costs are already $400 a week or more.”
For James Anderson, who lives outside Dallas, gas prices directly affect his business. He uses 1,500 gallons of diesel a month to fuel lawn mowers, excavators and other equipment for the golf course he owns in a northern suburb.
Mr. Anderson, 73, usually pays around $3.79 a gallon through a local company that delivers it, slightly higher than what he could get at a regular gas pump.
“What I’m worried about is $6 a gallon,” he said. “I don’t have a choice. I have a million-dollar business and I have to operate it.”
Coleman Newell also has to factor in gas costs as part of his job as a ride-share driver. The 60 year-old, who lives in Chicago, drives an average of 12 hours a day to earn about $300 a day. But with higher gas prices, he said, he has to drive an extra two hours to make the same amount of money.
“The day before Trump started dropping bombs on Iran, I got gas for $2.72 a gallon in Bensenville,” Mr. Newell said on Monday, adding that he was now paying $3.50 per gallon. “And Lyft prices don’t go up. I fill up the car once a day at least, and when it’s busy I fill up twice a day.”
Mr. Newell, who voted for Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020 and Ms. Harris in 2024, speculated that the increases would linger long after war was over. “This is going to last a long time.”
Robert Chiarito contributed reporting from Chicago; Meredith Cummings from Bethlehem, Pa.; Mary Beth Gahan from Dallas; Libby Leonard from Kapaau, Hawaii; and Emmett Lindner from New York.
Audra D. S. Burch is a national reporter, based in South Florida and Atlanta, writing about race and identity around the country.
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