EIA residential propane, Missouri
Missouri propane prices: $2.21 a gallon
Latest EIA residential survey, week ending 30 March 2026, the final release of the 2025-26 heating season. Weekly updates resume in October; the wholesale benchmark below is live.
A rural and lake-country fuel in a state whose two big metros run on natural gas: propane here heats the Ozarks, the Lake of the Ozarks shoreline, the Bootheel and the small-town belt, on routes that stay dense because the harvest keeps them busy.
Latest EIA residential propane price
Source: EIA State Heating Oil and Propane Program, Missouri residential series. Refreshed automatically every Tuesday in season; wholesale daily.
Missouri at a glance
Latest survey$2.21/gal
vs week before-2.8c
vs 4 weeks before+0.5c
vs same week last yearlevel
vs US ($2.67)17% below
Among 38 surveyed states10th cheapest
500-gal fill (400 usable)$884
Week by week, 2025-26 season
Missouri against the US average
Every point is an EIA survey week. This season Missouri ran from a low of $1.94 (27 Oct) to a high of $2.27 (9 Feb), with the US average finishing at $2.67. Against the same week a year earlier it is level.
$1.94
Season low
27 October 2025
$2.27
Season high
9 February 2026
$2.22
Same week last year
31 March 2025, now level
$0.85
Wholesale today
Mont Belvieu spot, 15 September 2026, +17c vs a month ago
Source: EIA State Heating Oil and Propane Program, residential propane, full-service delivery, published October to March. Wholesale is the Mont Belvieu, TX spot price; retail usually follows it by four to eight weeks, which makes it the best off-season signal of where Missouri prices are heading.
What a fill costs in Missouri at $2.21
Tanks fill to 80% of their stated size to leave room for expansion, so a 500-gallon tank takes about 400 gallons. The right-hand column is the difference against the same fill at the US average.
| Tank | Usable gallons | Fill at $2.21 | vs US ($2.67) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 gal | 80 gal | $177 | -$37 |
| 250 gal | 200 gal | $442 | -$93 |
| 500 gal | 400 gal | $884 | -$186 |
| 1000 gal | 800 gal | $1767 | -$372 |
A Missouri home heating on propane through a typical winter burns 1,000 to 1,500 gallons, so fuel alone runs about $2209 to $3314 at this price, before tank rent or a service plan. The average is a benchmark, not a quote: enter your ZIP to ask up to three local dealers what they would charge you.
Missouri against its Midwest neighbours
The cheapest Midwest cluster (Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, Kansas) hugs the Conway, Kansas storage hub and the central-plains network. Missouri lands mid-pack: cheaper than the higher-cost Midwest states (Indiana, Ohio, Michigan) but above the low-cost plains and Upper-Midwest cluster that sits closer to storage.
| State | Price/gal | 500-gal fill | vs US ($2.67) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | $1.64 | $657 | -39% |
| Iowa | $1.66 | $664 | -38% |
| North Dakota | $1.70 | $680 | -36% |
| South Dakota | $1.84 | $736 | -31% |
| Kansas | $1.98 | $791 | -26% |
| Illinois | $2.03 | $810 | -24% |
| Minnesota | $2.06 | $822 | -23% |
| Wisconsin | $2.07 | $826 | -23% |
| Missouri | $2.21 | $884 | -17% |
| Michigan | $2.37 | $948 | -11% |
| Indiana | $2.63 | $1054 | -1% |
| Ohio | $2.69 | $1078 | +1% |
| Midwest average | $2.07 | $828 | -23% |
States marked regional est. are not surveyed individually by EIA and carry their PADD regional figure. Full table on prices by state.
Why Missouri runs 17% under the national average
Missouri runs a five-month heating season yet sits below the national average. The reasons are structural: storage geography, an agricultural demand base, and where the natural-gas grid stops and propane takes over.
PADD 2 storage proximity.
Missouri sits inside PADD 2 (Midwest) within trucking distance of the Conway, Kansas storage hub, one of the two largest in the country, and the Cushing, Oklahoma pipeline complex. Short haul distance from storage means lower transport cost in every gallon delivered to a Missouri retailer, before any markup, unlike the interior Northeast where product trucks in from far-off terminals.
Grain-drying demand steadies the routes.
Missouri is a leading corn and soybean state, and the Bootheel adds rice and cotton, all of which run propane-fired dryers each September through November. That harvest load keeps storage turning and supplier routes dense through the season, spreading per-gallon overhead across commercial volume and holding residential pricing down. The flip side for buyers: harvest demand firms rates before the first freeze, so an October fill misses the summer floor.
Where the gas grid stops.
Spire runs extensive natural-gas distribution across St. Louis and Kansas City, so the metros burn little residential propane. Propane in Missouri is a rural and lake-country fuel: the Ozarks, the Lake of the Ozarks shoreline, the Bootheel and the small-town belt outside Springfield, Columbia, Joplin and Cape Girardeau. That rural-skewed base, served by agriculture-dense routes, is what places Missouri in the cheap-Midwest cluster rather than the expensive end.
Lake and recreational demand.
Lake of the Ozarks second-home and recreational demand keeps supplier presence stable in Camden, Miller and Morgan counties that would otherwise be too sparse to serve economically year-round. Steady seasonal top-ups plus a year-round rural book give lake-area dealers enough density to keep competitive pricing, though second-home owners pay more per gallon on low usage against fixed tank-and-delivery fees.
Buying propane well in Missouri
A dealer list is step one. The gap between a careless account and a well-run one in Missouri is usually a few hundred dollars a winter. Here is where that money is won.
01
Confirm the state registration
Every operator selling or handling propane in Missouri must register with the Missouri Propane Safety Commission under the 2007 Propane Safety Act, pass a written exam and get installation plans approved. The register is not online, so ask for the dealer's registration number and confirm it with the commission. No registration, no sale.
02
Lock summer, before harvest
Wholesale bottoms in early summer, and most Missouri suppliers run pre-buy enrolment from about May through July. The state-specific reason to move early: from mid-September, corn, soybean and Bootheel rice-and-cotton drying pull propane on the same routes that serve rural homes. Ask for a cap-price contract over a strict pre-buy, and top up by mid-August if your tank is below 40%.
03
Quote all three tiers
Missouri has a real three-tier market: national carriers, Missouri regionals and farm co-ops like MFA Oil, and single-county independents in the Ozarks and lake country. In rural Missouri the spread between the cheapest local and the priciest national quote is often wide, so pull one written quote from each tier. If you own your tank, say so up front to remove the switching penalty.
04
Check LIHEAP eligibility
Missouri's LIHEAP, run by the Department of Social Services, Family Support Division, pays toward propane for households at or below 60% of State Median Income, with Energy Assistance benefits in the $153 to $495 range and crisis (ECIP) funds up to $800 in winter. Countable assets must be $3,000 or less. Apply through the myDSS portal or a Community Action Agency.
05
Start with a real operator in your region
Missouri publishes no searchable dealer register, so start from operators you can verify yourself, checked against their own sites and public listings in August 2026: MS Propane in Springfield and J.J. Propane of Republic in the southwest Ozarks; Mountain Country Propane of Mountain Grove in the south-central Ozarks; Pinnacle Propane at Eldon for the Lake of the Ozarks; MFA Oil, the farmer-owned Columbia cooperative, across central and rural Missouri; United Propane Gas at Sikeston for the Bootheel; and Ferrellgas, headquartered in Liberty, as a national-tier benchmark quote. A starting point, not a ranking.
Missouri propane, the questions people ask
Who licenses propane dealers in Missouri, and how do I check one?
The Missouri Propane Safety Commission (mopropanesc.org) is the statutory registration and enforcement body for LP-gas in Missouri. It was created by the Missouri Propane Safety Act of 2007 (RSMo Chapter 323) and took over propane regulation from the Missouri Department of Agriculture, becoming the inspection authority in October 2008. Anyone who sells, handles, installs or services propane equipment in the state must register with the commission, pass a written exam (75% minimum) and have installation plans approved before construction. There is one important catch for buyers: the commission does not publish its register online, so there is no public per-dealer lookup to search. Verify a dealer by asking for their Missouri Propane Safety Commission registration number and confirming it with the commission directly through mopropanesc.org. If a company cannot show current registration, do not buy from them.
Does this page have a full Missouri dealer directory?
Not yet, and we would rather say so than pad the page with a fabricated list. Several states we cover have a public regulator registry we can reproduce dealer by dealer; Missouri does not, because the Missouri Propane Safety Commission keeps its register offline. The regional call list on this page is a hand-checked starting point of real, verifiable operators, not a ranking and not a complete directory. To find suppliers closest to your address, enter your ZIP on our near-me tool, and browse our wider supplier index. Then confirm registration with the commission and get two or three written quotes before you sign.
Can I get LIHEAP help paying for propane in Missouri?
Yes. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program in Missouri is run by the Department of Social Services, Family Support Division, through the myDSS portal at mydss.mo.gov. It has two components a propane buyer can use: Energy Assistance is a one-time heating-season payment (roughly October through May) with benefits in the $153 to $495 range, and the Energy Crisis Intervention Program (ECIP) provides emergency winter funds up to $800 (November through May) plus summer cooling help up to $300 (June through September). Eligibility runs at or below 60% of Missouri State Median Income, with priority for households that include a senior (60 or older), a person with a disability, or a child under 6. Countable bank and investment assets must be $3,000 or less (your home and one vehicle are generally not counted). Apply through the myDSS portal or a contracted Community Action Agency, and apply early: crisis applications can face delivery delays during the January and February demand peak.
Why is Missouri propane below the national average?
Three structural reasons, none of them seasonal. First, storage geography: Missouri sits within trucking distance of the Conway, Kansas storage hub (one of the two largest US propane hubs) and the Cushing, Oklahoma pipeline complex, and short haul distance means lower per-gallon transport cost baked into every delivery. Second, agricultural demand: Missouri is a top corn-and-soybean state, and grain drying every harvest keeps supplier routes and storage turning through the off-season, which spreads overhead and holds residential pricing down. Third, where natural gas ends: Spire serves St. Louis and Kansas City, so propane is largely a rural and lake-country fuel in Missouri (the Ozarks, the Lake of the Ozarks, the Bootheel and the small-town belt), and demand-driven route density keeps that rural base economic to serve. The result is a state at $2.21 a gallon against a $2.67 national average: cheaper than Indiana and Ohio, though still above Iowa and Kansas, which sit closer to the storage hubs.
When should Missouri homeowners pre-buy propane?
May through July, before harvest. Wholesale propane bottoms in early summer when heating demand is near zero, and most Missouri suppliers run pre-buy enrollment through that window. The Missouri twist is grain drying: from mid-September the corn, soybean, rice and cotton harvests pull propane in volume across the same regional routes that serve rural homes, and per-gallon rates tend to firm well before the first hard freeze. Do not wait until October to fill. A household that locks summer gallons 15 cents cheaper on a 1,000-gallon year banks about $150 before winter. Ask for a cap-price contract (you keep the savings if wholesale falls) rather than a strict pre-buy, ask whether unused pre-paid gallons roll forward, and top up by mid-August if your tank is below 40%.
How does propane work for a Lake of the Ozarks second home?
Across much of the lake's shoreline (Camden, Miller and Morgan counties) natural gas service is sparse to non-existent, so propane handles space heat, water heat, the range, the dryer and often a dock or fireplace heater. For a weekend or seasonal home the economics flip, because you pay tank rental and minimum-delivery fees against low usage, which pushes the effective cost per gallon up. Three tactics that work: own your tank outright rather than renting it, which removes the rental fee and lets you shop every fill; ask for a low-usage or vacant-home delivery schedule with a lower fill trigger so a single fill carries the season; and drain non-essential lines over winter if the property sits empty, which can cut consumption sharply. The summer pre-buy window still applies and is usually the single biggest saving lever for a second home.
How do I switch propane suppliers in Missouri without losing my tank?
Most Missouri homeowners rent their tank from their current supplier, which legally restricts who can fill it. To switch without buying the tank out, the new supplier arranges a swap-out: they notify the old supplier, remove that tank and set their own, typically over one to three weeks, all standard registered practice. If you own your tank outright, any registered Missouri supplier can fill it, and ownership is the strongest leverage in this market because it lets you shop on price at every fill. Buying a tank from a supplier usually runs $800 to $2,500 depending on size and install. Before you sign, cross-quote three tiers: a national carrier (AmeriGas, Ferrellgas, Suburban), a Missouri regional or farm co-op, and a local independent in your county. In rural Missouri the spread between the cheapest local and the priciest national quote is often wide, so the three quotes usually pay for themselves.
Keep reading
All Missouri dealers
Missouri propane dealers by city and ZIP.
Dealers near you
Enter a ZIP to see the closest dealers and ask up to three for a price.
Propane prices today
The daily wholesale benchmark and the live state summer surveys.
Prices by state
All 50 states side by side, with regional context.
What a fill costs
Tank sizes, the 80% rule and the national refill guide.
How to pay less
Pre-buy timing, switching, owned versus leased tanks.
500-gallon tank cost
Buy, install and refill costs for the most common Missouri tank size.
Run the cost calculator
Apply Missouri pricing to your home, climate and usage.