I wrote the NJ cost-of-living piece and forgot the most painful line item

I wrote the cost-of-living piece back in early April. Groceries. Property taxes. Insurance. The whole miserable parade. I went through every line item that makes New Jersey feel like a financial hostage situation.

I left one out.

Gas. I didn't write about gas. And in the four weeks since I published that piece, New Jersey drivers have been reminded — hard — of exactly what that omission cost them.

The numbers are ugly

When that cost-of-living article went up in early April, the average gallon of regular in New Jersey was hovering around $3.60. According to AAA, the statewide average has now climbed to $4.42 — up more than 80 cents since last month and $1.41 compared to this time last year.

In less than four weeks. Eighty-two cents a gallon.

I drive 57 miles to work and 57 miles home. That is not a choice. That is the job. A lot of New Jersey commuters are in the same position — long drives with no realistic alternative, watching the pump number spin and doing the math in their heads. It's not good math.

And we're not done yet

Here's what makes this worse. AAA Northeast spokesperson Jillian Young said that with refineries now selling the more expensive summer-blend gasoline and the busiest driving season ahead, those factors may contribute to additional upward pressure on prices.

The summer blend is a real thing and it costs you real money. Gas producers have to make the switch to summer-blend starting May 1st, while gas stations must be fully switched over by June 1st. It costs between 10 and 15 cents per gallon more to produce, and producers pass that along to consumers. You can expect to see that show up at your local station later this month and into the summer.

So the $4.42 you're paying today is not the ceiling. It may be a floor.

SEE ALSO: 10 reasons NJ is so expensive — and why it keeps getting worse 

Both parties own this one

New Jersey's state gas tax is now 49.1 cents per gallon — the largest single-year increase since fiscal year 2021, the result of a 2024 law that keeps raising the tax through 2029. Democrats passed it. Republicans didn't stop it. The federal tax layer sits on top of that. Oil prices have surged above $100 a barrel with no clear indication of when the situation is stabilizing. That's a national problem with no partisan solution in sight.

You want to blame somebody, there's plenty of blame to go around. Take a number.

The real cost nobody talks about

Here's the part that gets under my skin. When gas goes up, people cut somewhere else. They have to. We're not going out to dinner the way we used to. We're not stopping for lunch like we once did. We're not making the extra trip to the shore on a Tuesday just because. You make quiet adjustments, the kind nobody announces.

But those adjustments have a destination. They land at the door of a restaurant in your town, a diner on Route 9, a small business already absorbing New Jersey's cost of doing business — the payroll taxes, the property taxes, the overhead that never goes down. When you stop showing up, they feel it. And they can't cut their way out the way a household can.

Gas prices are never just about gas prices in New Jersey. They are about everything that happens after you pull away from the pump.

I filled up yesterday. The total was enough to make me sit in the car for a second and just stare at the receipt.

That feeling? That's affordability in New Jersey in May 2026. Nobody left it off the list this time.