As residential development continues to expand and natural gas delivery systems do not to match in many areas the use of propane has moved beyond the rural US. I have a house in a suburban neighborhood developed in the last 10 years and all the houses have buried propane tanks instead of natural gas hookups. The propane fuels heating systems, hot water heaters and stove tops. Most have grills and fire pits also attached. I have all those plus the propane fuels an emergency whole house generator.

How often tanks are refilled depends upon your particular usage pattern and the time of year. Refills can occur on demand, on an automatic basis determined by looking at your past usage patterns or as in my case triggered by an IoT connected meter which notifies my propane supplier when my tanks fall below a pre-determined level. Depending on the time of year it can be 3 months or 6 months between fills.