State Heating Oil Price Index
The median price per gallon of residential heating oil in each state we cover, calculated from prices individual dealers posted in the last 14 days.
This page is free to cite and the underlying data is free to download. The method is written out below so you can judge it before you use it.
| State | Median price/gal | Middle 50% of dealers | Dealers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | $4.50 | $4.39 – $4.70 | 18 |
| Massachusetts | $4.55 | $4.40 – $4.85 | 73 |
| New Hampshire | $4.59 | $4.49 – $4.75 | 17 |
| New Jersey | $4.59 | $4.59 – $4.75 | 14 |
| Connecticut | $4.60 | $4.49 – $4.69 | 43 |
| Rhode Islandlimited sample | $4.60 | $4.45 – $4.67 | 6 |
| Pennsylvania | $4.69 | $4.46 – $4.95 | 31 |
| Marylandlimited sample | $4.85 | $4.75 – $4.92 | 3 |
| New York | $4.99 | $4.67 – $5.04 | 19 |
| Delawarelimited sample | $5.27 | $5.18 – $5.30 | 4 |
| Vermontlimited sample | $5.30 | $5.30 – $5.30 | 1 |
States marked limited sample have fewer than 10 dealers reporting and are shown for completeness. Treat those figures as indicative only. 7 of 11 states meet the sample floor.
Download the data
Both files carry the full statistics for every state, including the mean and the outright minimum and maximum listing.
Published under CC BY 4.0. Use it anywhere with attribution. If you are writing something and need a cut of the data we do not publish here, ask us.
Methodology
What is being measured
Each figure is the median advertised cash price per gallon for residential heating oil among dealers in that state who posted a price in the last 14 days. Prices are collected automatically from dealer websites twice daily, and dealers who maintain a listing with us can confirm their own price directly.
Why the median and not the average
Automated collection occasionally captures a number that is not a retail per-gallon price, such as a promotional rate or a misread figure. The median is unaffected by a handful of bad values, so it describes the typical dealer more reliably than an average does. The mean is included in the downloadable files alongside the median, and where the two diverge noticeably that divergence is itself informative.
Why only the last 14 days
A dealer price observed months ago is not evidence about this week's market. Only observations inside the window are counted, which means the dealer count for a state is the number who actually posted recently rather than the number we list overall. That makes the counts smaller and the figures more honest.
What this is not
- It is not a volume-weighted market price. Every dealer counts once, regardless of how much oil they sell, so a state with many small dealers is represented by those dealers.
- It is not the price you will pay. Delivery minimums, order size, cash versus credit terms and your distance from the depot all move the final number.
- It is not a government survey. State energy offices and the EIA run weekly surveys with their own sampling frames. This is an independent read from listed dealer pricing and will not match theirs exactly.
- Coverage is uneven. Some states rest on a handful of dealers, and those are flagged rather than quietly averaged in.
Update schedule
Prices are collected twice daily. This index page is regenerated monthly, and the "as of" date at the top always reflects the data actually shown. If the date looks stale, the number is stale; we would rather you see that than not.
Corrections
If you spot a figure that looks wrong, tell us. Dealers who want to correct their own listed price can claim their listing.