A record number of Americans have traveled in 2024, especially around the summer holidays. As the unofficial summer season draws to a close Labor Day weekend, that trend should continue.
In its Labor Day travel forecast, GasBuddy predicts the average price of gasoline will continue its recent downward trend, falling to $3.27 per gallon on Labor Day, the lowest Labor Day price since 2021.
At $3.27 per gallon, this Labor Day’s national average would be 50 cents per gallon, or 13% below last year’s $3.77 average, saving Americans a combined $750 million over the Friday-through-Monday travel period.
According to GasBuddy data, gas prices peaked in mid-April at around $3.69 a gallon. They’ve been in a downward trend since then, mainly because of soft demand. A lot of the price reduction has occurred in Western states, which tend to have some of the nation’s highest gas prices.
"It’s been a great summer for motorists to hit the road with gas prices generally lower than last year,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “But heading into Labor Day, the year-on-year gap has grown substantially thanks to few refinery outages or heatwaves impacting refineries this month.”
No hurricane threats so far
DeHaan said hurricane season has also been quiet so far, creating fewer problems for Gulf Coast refinery operators. If Mother Nature continues to cooperate, DeHaan says we may avoid late summer price spikes.
“While many Americans may wish summer could last forever, the good news is we’re seeing perhaps the best opportunity in years for the national average to fall below $3 per gallon,” he said. “As we get closer to Thanksgiving, we should see tens of thousands of stations ultimately fall back below that level, all thanks to falling seasonal demand and cheaper winter gasoline, which is right around the corner.”
Another factor in favor of motorists – gas stations in most states will start transitioning to less expensive winter blend gasoline on September 16. Assuming the geopolitical climate doesn’t worsen, the U.S. could see stable prices at the pump for the rest of the year.