Homes that heat with propane are starting the cold months paying more than a year ago. The U.S. Energy Information Administration put the average residential price at $2.689 a gallon on October 19, up 5.6 cents in a week and 25.6 cents from the same week in 2025.
Where a house sits decides how hard the price lands. New England paid the most, at $3.872 a gallon, while the Midwest paid $2.156.
How much does propane cost by region?
The EIA’s weekly heating oil and propane table breaks the country into regions. Residential prices as of October 19, in dollars a gallon, were:
- New England: $3.872, up 41.7 cents from a year ago
- East Coast overall: $3.693, up 36.4 cents
- Lower Atlantic: $3.660, up 31.8 cents
- Central Atlantic: $3.585, up 35.7 cents
- Gulf Coast: $3.034, up 20.0 cents
- Rocky Mountain: $2.340, up 25.7 cents
- Midwest: $2.156, up 23.6 cents
The gap between the highest and lowest regions is $1.716 a gallon. Every region in the table is above its price of a year ago.
What does a tank fill cost at those prices?
A 500-gallon fill is easy arithmetic. At the national average of $2.689 a gallon, that comes to $1,344.50. At New England’s $3.872, the same fill costs $1,936, which is $591.50 more for the same amount of fuel.
The EIA says it collects these weekly propane prices only during the heating season, which it defines as October through March, and updates the table every Wednesday after 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
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Which households feel it most?
Retirees on a fixed income who heat with propane have little room to shift. A price that rises 25.6 cents a gallon nationally, or 41.7 cents in New England, lands on the same Social Security check or pension that covered last winter.
Households in the Northeast and along the Atlantic coast face the highest per-gallon prices, and the table shows the Lower Atlantic region, which includes Florida, with a higher price than the national average. The EIA’s state rows go further: Florida was at $4.928 a gallon on October 19, while Utah was at $2.329.
What help is there with propane bills?
Help with heating costs mostly runs through state-run programs funded by the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP. Rules differ by state, and propane users are written into some of them by name.
Kentucky shows how it can work. The state’s LIHEAP page says its heating subsidy runs in November and December for households at or below 130% of the federal poverty level, and that a crisis component runs from early January until mid-March or until funds run out. A household qualifies for crisis help if it has four or fewer days of fuel oil, propane, kerosene, wood or coal left.
Those are Kentucky’s rules, not a national standard. Other states set their own dates, income limits and fuel rules, and the application usually goes through a local agency that the state contracts to take applications.
Where do the dates and numbers stand heading into winter?
The weekly table is the number to watch. It posts every Wednesday through March, so a household with a tank at 30% can compare its local region against the national figure before ordering. Prices charged by a local dealer may differ from the regional average.
Another factor is timing. A fill ordered before a cold snap and a fill ordered during one are priced by the same market, but a household low on fuel has less room to wait. Programs with crisis components, like the one in Kentucky, are built around that tight spot.
Paying $3.872 a gallon and not sure what help exists?
A propane bill that is 25.6 cents a gallon higher than last year, or 41.7 cents higher in New England, can push a fixed-income household toward a short tank, and heating programs have their own windows and paperwork that differ from state to state.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit covers heating, cooling and home-repair help for older homeowners, and it includes an application log and renewal calendar so each program’s dates and paperwork stay in one place. Part 5 of the kit, “Utilities and Home Costs,” is the section built for power and heat bills.
Get the heating-help guide and renewal calendar for propane season →
More Financial Reading
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- 17 Medicare Money Moves Now That Part D Caps at $2,400
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
