Transportation fuel demand remains below pre-pandemic levels
U.S. Energy Information Administration
EIA provides energy statistics and analyses for sound policy making, efficient markets, and public education.
Five years after the COVID-19 national emergency was declared, gasoline demand, distillate demand, and jet fuel demand all remain less than pre-pandemic averages. Several factors are keeping demand below pre-pandemic levels. For example: increased fuel efficiency in the vehicle and aircraft fleets has offset increased travel, and demand for petroleum-based distillate fuel oil has been partially replaced by biomass-based distillate fuels.
In April 2020 (the first full month following the March 13 declaration of the COVID-19 national emergency), U.S. gasoline demand fell to 5.9 million barrels per day, the lowest since January 1974. In April 2025, U.S. gasoline demand averaged 8.9 million barrels per day, 52% higher than it was in April 2020 but below the April 2019 average of 9.4 million barrels per day.
Increased vehicle efficiency has offset increased driving activity, measured as vehicle miles traveled, which reached an all-time high in 2024, at 9.0 billion miles per day. However, increased fuel efficiency and electrification of the vehicle fleet has resulted in less gasoline consumption despite increased driving activity.
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