Let’s think about the total impact on gas prices over the budget of the average household.
You have an average income of around $55,000, so let’s be pessimistic and say you make $50,000 per year because the math is easier.
You drive a car that gets around 30 miles per gallon, you live 10 miles away from where you work, and you drive into the office five days a week. You commute 200 miles per month to get to and from work and consume just under 7 gallons of gasoline for your commute. Your car has a 10-gallon tank and you fill your tank once per month.
At $2 per gallon which is where gas prices were in 2020, you are then spending around $14 per month on gasoline or as much as $28 per month on gasoline in 2024.
In a total year, gasoline will cost you around $350. It doesn’t even take 1% of your income.
For comparison nowadays, if you want to rent a one-bedroom apartment in most of the country you will be spending close to $1000 per month, or $12,000 per year. This is over 20% of your income. Most people spend closer to 30% of their income on housing.
The real reason behind inflation over the last few years is due primarily to housing prices.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1DKjO
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/HOUST
We have failed to build enough housing units to satisfy demand, which has led to inflation. You cannot fight supply-pull inflation by increasing interest rates. Increasing interest rates makes it more expensive to build housing units, reducing supply, and increasing the price. That is why the current policy of increasing interest rates to fight inflation is misguided.