The price of gasoline has increased by 50 cents a gallon over just a month ago, and motorists may continue paying higher prices for as long as the war in Ukraine stretches on, industry experts said.

According to AAA, the national average price for regular gas is up to $3.84 per gallon, and the New York statewide average has reached $4.05 per gallon.

Industry experts partly blame the price spikes on the possibility of sanctions against Russian oil and gas imports.

Drivers in the Hudson Valley are adjusting, though they said the increase is far out of line from what they are used to for this time of year.

Now at $4.05, New York’s price-per-gallon is up about 28 cents from last week, about 50 cents from a month ago and $1.20 from this time last year.

“It’s sad we have to endure this,” Julius Wilson said as he was filling up his SUV in Orange County on Friday. “You feel powerless.”

The Wallkill resident said he understands incremental price increases for goods or services, but this more dramatic spike has led him to seek a better, closer, possibly higher-paying job.

He said his job made financial sense when he started two years ago, but that is changing. Wilson said having a new job that is walking distance from his home might net him more money than his current job brings in, even if the new job pays less.

“When you start at a job and gas costs $2.37, and here you are a couple years later and it’s four dollars, — that’s almost double the money for me to get to and from work, Wilson said. “It kind of feels like you’re working for the gas.”