With the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed, gas prices went up more than 30 cents a gallon in the last week of April (2) and are the highest they’ve been since July 2022, according to AAA. Some lawmakers in Congress have proposed eliminating the federal gas tax to help lower the price at the pump, according to The Washington Post (3). However, this is not guaranteed to bring relief as gas stations may not offer the savings to consumers and the price of gas could continue to rise — the tax is just 18.3 cents per gallon on regular gasoline.
Thankfully, there are deals to be had, right now, for warehouse club members — and the savings can be as much as 34 cents on the gallon (5).
Membership has its perks
As MarketWatch notes (6), citing a Bank of America Institute (7) report aptly called "The madness of March," Americans spent 16.5% more on gas in March than in February, when the war in Iran began driving up prices.
On average, gas accounts for 3.1% of monthly household spending, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey (8), with American families forking out about $201 each month to gas up in 2024.
Add a 16.5% price hike, and that increases the cost by about $33 a month, or $396 a year, which can easily start to eat into a family's budget. For example, that's equivalent to a quarter of what the average household spends on milk, cheese and produce ($1,584) each year.
But, households who have warehouse club memberships, which can already help knock as much as 20% off average grocery (9) prices, can also save the most on gas.
When MarketWatch recently went looking for the cheapest gas prices (10), the three big membership clubs topped the list. According to data supplied to the news outlet by the Oil Price Information Service (11), compared to the national price per gallon:
- Costco was 34 cents less.
- Sam's Club was 26 cents less.
- BJ's Wholesale Club was 26 cents less.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that Americans used about 136.72 billion gallons of gasoline in 2025, (12) divided by the number of licensed drivers, about 242.29 million, (13) which works out to roughly 564 gallons per driver. That could mean savings of roughly $146 to $191, per household driver, based on the discounts above.
