North Shore drivers are paying $4.52 a gallon for regular gas heading into Labor Day weekend, the highest price in the Chicago metro area.
That Cook County average, reported Thursday, Sept. 3, by Patch citing AAA data, is 20 cents above the Illinois statewide average of $4.32 and 39 cents above the national average of $4.13. Winnetka, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Glencoe and Northfield all sit in Cook County.
No collar county comes close. DuPage averaged $4.39, Will $4.38, Kendall $4.36, Kane and McHenry $4.34 each, and Lake County $4.32.
Nationally, GasBuddy projected the Labor Day weekend average at $4.03 per gallon. That is 87 cents higher than 2025 and the most expensive Labor Day on record. The previous record was $3.83 per gallon in 2012.
"This year has been less about typical supply and demand, and more about uncertainty over how global tensions will affect the availability of crude oil and refined products," Patrick De Haan said in a Sept. 1 press release. De Haan leads petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
Two overseas conflicts are driving the surge. Tensions involving Iran have threatened shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global crude oil. Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries have cut refining capacity, tightening supplies of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel worldwide.
GasBuddy said those disruptions pushed refining margins to record levels. The full summer 2026 season ranked as the second most expensive on record, behind only 2022.
@GasBuddyGuy: "According to GasBuddy data, summer 2026 gas prices (Memorial Day through Labor Day) will end up being the second highest recorded at $4.023/gal, below 2022's $4.430/gal record."
Some relief may arrive after Sept. 15, when most of the country switches to cheaper winter-blend gasoline, according to GasBuddy. How much prices fall mostly depends on whether tensions in the Middle East ease.
A 15-gallon fill-up in Cook County now costs about $67.80, roughly $3 more than the same tank in neighboring Lake County.
