'I can't afford it': Locals consider driving less as gas prices rise above $5 in Milwaukee

MILWUAKEE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The purge at the pump took another record breaking leap over the weekend. 

The national average cost of a gallon of gas continues to climb, now standing at $4.87, according to GasBuddy.

Paying $5 for a gallon of gas used to be unimaginable for Milwaukee-area drivers. Now, it is a challenge to find a local station pumping gas for any less than that. 

"I live on a fixed income, and it's really hard. It's truly really hard," Deon Kimbrough Sr. said. "I can't afford it, but I'm doing it though. I have to cut back on food and everything else."

On average, a gallon of gas costs $5.13 in Milwaukee, according to GasBuddy.

The climbing price is forcing some drivers to reconsider how much they really need to use their car.

"I might even have to go back to work. I don't know if I want to do that," Kurt Kneser said.

Despite the concern, experts said people aren't driving any less.

"Demand for gas and sales of gas have not declined at all," AAA Director of Public Affairs Nick Jarmusz said.

Between day-to-day travel and summer road trips, AAA predicts prices will continue to break records.

"Until the dynamics on both sides of that market equation are altered in some way, we're probably not going to see it change in the trajectory of prices," Jarmusz said.

As a "drive-in" city for much of the Midwest, Milwaukee sees most of its tourists in the summer months, and Visit Milwaukee doesn't expect the high gas prices to change that. 

"We're four hours from Indianapolis, six from St. Louis, six from Minneapolis, and so we know people are coming from there," Visit Milwaukee Director of Communications said. 

With diesel prices also standing at a record high, consumers are also paying for increased goods all around.