State prices
Near normalNorth Carolina propane prices
Current residential price: $3.580/gal, wholesale $1.006/gal. EIA weekly survey (October-March).
Data through Oct 5, 2026 · source last checked Oct 7, 2026 · page revised Oct 7, 2026
Cite
- Residential
- Wholesale
About this data
- Source
- EIA State Heating Oil and Propane Program survey
- Series
- Residential retail propane price
- Basis
- Residential, retail
- Geography
- North Carolina propane prices
- Unit
- $/gal
- Calculation
- Weekly survey, Oct-Mar heating season
- Last observation
- Oct 5, 2026
- Update frequency
- Weekly, Oct-Mar
Now $3.580/gal, 8.4% above the 5-yr median.
North Carolina residential propane rose 8.4% year over year to $3.580/gal through October 5, and sits 8.4% above the five-year median. Wholesale is at $1.006/gal.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | $3.580/gal | n/a | n/a |
| vs 4 weeks ago | $3.580/gal | n/a | n/a |
| Year over year | $3.580/gal | $3.302/gal | +8.4% |
| vs 5-yr median | $3.580/gal | $3.302/gal | +8.4% |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Homes heating with propane | 257,374 |
| Share of occupied homes | 6.0% |
| Occupied homes (all fuels) | 4,282,345 |
| National rank by propane share | #22 of 51 |
Previous weeks
Week of Mar 30, 2026
North Carolina residential propane stood at $3.450/gal in the Mar 30 survey, up 1.7 cents on the week. The price sits 1.7% above the 4-year median, up 1.0 cent year-over-year.
An earlier week
North Carolina residential propane closed the season at $3.450/gal on March 30, 1.7% above the 4-year median. The EIA price survey pauses May through September and resumes in October.
Week of Aug 3, 2026
North Carolina residential propane read $3.450/gal on March 30, up 1.7 cents on the week and 2% above the four-year median. Wholesale prices were $1.013/gal. The EIA survey resumes in October.
About North Carolina propane prices
North Carolina sits at the end of the Dixie pipeline, the line that carries Gulf Coast propane across the Southeast and terminates near Apex. A direct pipeline connection is unusual for an East Coast state, and it is the main reason supply here is steadier than in New England. Demand mixes rural home heating in the Piedmont and the mountains with poultry and turkey houses and the propane-fired barns that cure the state's flue-cured tobacco.
This is a surveyed average rather than a quote. EIA polls a sample of North Carolina propane dealers weekly through the October to March heating season and publishes the state figure Wednesday afternoon; the series then goes quiet until October. EIA also surveys a wholesale price for North Carolina, plotted as the lower line. The distance between the two is the delivered-service stack, and it widens when the rack falls faster than dealers reprice. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey, on five-year estimates, puts propane as the main heating fuel in 6.0% of occupied North Carolina homes, around the middle of the state rankings.
The regional numbers around this price are Lower Atlantic propane prices and Lower Atlantic propane stocks, the inventory that has to cover the winter. A price per gallon is not a delivery ticket. The propane usage calculator estimates gallons burned and what a fill costs at the current North Carolina survey price.
Common questions
What is the current propane price in North Carolina?
North Carolina's residential propane price is $3.580/gal as of Oct 5, 2026, the latest reading in EIA's weekly heating-season survey, with the wholesale (rack) price at $1.006/gal on Oct 5, 2026. The chart above carries the full history and the table shows the week-over-week move.
When is propane most expensive in North Carolina?
Residential propane runs highest in the middle of the heating season, ordinarily January and February, and cheapest through the summer while Lower Atlantic stocks are building and nothing is drawing on them. The regional wrinkle is that Lower Atlantic winters are milder, so the seasonal rise is usually shallower here, though poultry brooders and tobacco curing pull volume in the fall ahead of any real cold. Why propane prices rise in winter has the mechanics.
What is the difference between the residential and wholesale price on this page?
The residential price is what a North Carolina household pays for a delivered gallon: the dealer's own cost plus trucking, tank service and margin. The wholesale price is that dealer cost at the rack, before any of it. The gap between the two is the delivered-service stack, and how propane is priced walks through each layer of it.