How Much Is a Ruby Worth? Ruby Price per Carat, From 2,428 Listings

It depends on four things you can check: weight, treatment, origin and color. Many price charts online repeat one another, so we read listings instead: 2,428 priced rubies at five independent sellers, on October 7, 2026. Faceted single stones only, each with its treatment stated.

• Typical ask is each seller's middle listing, from the lowest of those middles to the highest.
• Full span is the cheapest and the dearest single listing.
• Asked, not sold. These are list prices, not closed sales.

The sellers don't agree. For a heated 1 to 2 carat ruby, one seller's middle listing asks $1,173 a carat and another's asks $6,016, five times more. A price list describes one seller's stock, not the market, and ours is kept out of the table for that reason. For the wider picture, see our colored gemstone market statistics.

More, but less than the word suggests. Almost all rubies are heated, so assume heat unless a laboratory report says otherwise. At each of three sellers, the middle unheated 1 to 2 carat ruby asks more than the middle heated one: 34 percent more at the first, 80 percent at the second, about three and a half times at the third.

Now look at the spans. The cheapest unheated ruby in that band asks $587 a carat, below the typical heated stone. Unheated is not a synonym for expensive. The big premium goes to large, top-quality rubies that never needed heat, because those are rare.

One step below heated: rubies that are diffused or glass-filled are worth less than heated ones. We print no figure for them, since fewer than three sellers list them as such. The full treatment ladder is in our natural ruby guide.

Less than the name alone promises. Origin lifts the price of a fine, unheated ruby when a laboratory report confirms it. On its own, it sets no floor.

• Burmese, unheated. 69 listings at four sellers ask $2,000 to $373,750 a carat. Between 1 and 3 carats, 56 of them ask $2,000 to $50,000.
• Burmese, heated. 554 listings at three sellers ask $235 to $28,125 a carat.
• Mozambican, unheated, 1 to 3 carats. 202 listings at three sellers ask $670 to $31,500 a carat. Mozambique has become the world's most important ruby source.
• Sri Lankan and Thai. Too few sellers list them by origin for us to print a figure.

In some markets, an unheated Mogok ruby can cost twice as much as an unheated Thai ruby of similar apparent quality. A place name on a price tag is not proof of origin, though. Color names work the same way: see pigeon blood ruby.

Because fine rubies over one carat are rare. A fine 5 carat ruby sells for over five times more per carat than a fine 1 carat one. A commercial 5 carat ruby sells for only about twice as much per carat.

The listings show the same slope. From the 1 to 2 carat band to the 2 to 3 carat band, the dearest unheated listing goes from $28,050 to $50,000 a carat, and the dearest heated one from $14,025 to $24,300.

One trap. Ruby rough is expensive, so cutters keep as much weight as they can. Flattened rough becomes a shallow stone with a window, where light leaks out through the middle. Look at the stone face-up, not only at the carats. And if the red is light, check which name it carries: ruby or pink sapphire is a wide difference in value.

When a clean, vivid red ruby of a carat or more asks a price near the bottom of the spans, ask what it is before you ask why it is cheap. Two usual answers:

• Synthetic ruby. It has been on the market since 1902. Flame-fusion material is inexpensive, and flux-grown stones have inclusions that can look natural.
• Glass-filled or diffused ruby. Worth less than a heated stone. The treatment should be disclosed to you in writing.

A report from an independent outside laboratory settles it. Our guide to what a gemstone certificate proves shows what to read on it.

1. Convert it to a price per carat. Divide the price by the weight. Total prices can't be compared across sizes.
2. Get the treatment in writing. Heated, unheated or filled decides which band you compare with.
3. Find the band. Same weight range, same treatment. Then see where the quote sits between the typical ask and the full span.
4. Pay for origin only when it is on a report. With us, the stone goes to an independent outside laboratory after you buy, and the report ships with it: see our certification policy.

Now try it on a quote you were given:

For the other corundum, see sapphire price per carat.