- Michigan cities Ypsilanti, Taylor, Macomb, Dearborn, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Canton, and Westland all rank among the top 10 cities with the fastest delivery times across the United States.
- Residents in Ypsilanti, Taylor, Macomb, Dearborn, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Canton, and Westland receive packages in just 3.06 days on average.
Michigan’s East Lansing averages 4.06 days for package deliveries.
New research has revealed that customers in some states wait more than four times longer for package deliveries than others, revealing where businesses should place their shipping hubs for the fastest service.
The study, conducted by third party logistics provider (3PL) GoBolt, analyzed USPS Ground Advantage statistics to identify which areas have the shortest and longest wait times for packages.
Michigan findings
Businesses should consider setting up their shipping hubs in Ypsilanti, Taylor, Macomb, Dearborn, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Canton, and Westland in Michigan, as these are the highest-ranking cities in the state.
The cities rank joint seventh with Illinois’ Chicago, Des Plaines, Oak Lawn, Aurora, Bolingbrook, Elmhurst, Elgin, Plainfield, Naperville, and Evanston, with residents receiving their orders in 3.06 days.
On average, parcels below 1 lb are delivered in 2.99 days, and parcels over 1 lb and up to 70 lbs are delivered in 3.13 days.
In contrast, Michigan’s East Lansing ranks joint forty-third with South Carolina’s Simpsonville and Lancaster and Oklahoma’s Broken Arrow, Owasso, Tulsa, Lawton, Stillwater, and Bixby, with an average wait of 4.06 days.
Full ranking
Four Ohio cities Hilliard, Lancaster, Delaware, and Columbus share the top spot, with postal workers delivering packages to homes in just 2.93 days on average.
For parcels below 1 lb, the average delivery time drops slightly to 2.86 days, while for those up to 70 lbs, the average time is 3 days.
Ohio’s Mason and Kentucky’s Florence tie for second, with parcels arriving in 2.96 days on average in the two cities. For parcels below 1 lb, the average delivery time is 2.89 days, whereas for larger parcels it increases to 3.03 days.
Another Ohio city, Medina, ranks joint third, with two Pennsylvania cities, Greensburg and Washington.
On average, residents receive orders in 2.99 days. The delivery time drops to 2.92 days for parcels below 1 lb and increases to 3.06 days for those up to 70 lbs.
Indiana’s New Albany and Kentucky’s Louisville share the fourth spot, both with an average delivery time of 3 days. For parcels under 1 lb, residents receive their mail slightly faster, with an average delivery time of 2.93 days, while for those over 1 lb and up to 70 lbs, this changes to 3.07 days.
Rounding out the top five are six Indiana cities: Greenwood, Carmel, Fishers, Columbus, Noblesville, and Brownsburg. On average, delivery takes 3.02 days in these cities, dropping to 2.95 days for smaller parcels and rising to 3.09 days for larger ones.
Top Five Cities for Fastest Mail Delivery
| Rank | City | State | Average delivery time |
| 1. (=) | Hilliard | Ohio | 2.93 |
| 1. (=) | Lancaster | Ohio | 2.93 |
| 1. (=) | Delaware | Ohio | 2.93 |
| 1. (=) | Columbus | Ohio | 2.93 |
| 2. (=) | Mason | Ohio | 2.96 |
| 2. (=) | Florence | Kentucky | 2.96 |
| 3. (=) | Medina | Ohio | 2.99 |
| 3. (=) | Greensburg | Pennsylvania | 2.99 |
| 3. (=) | Washington | Pennsylvania | 2.99 |
| 4. (=) | New Albany | Indiana | 3.00 |
| 4. (=) | Louisville | Kentucky | 3.00 |
| 5. (=) | Greenwood | Indiana | 3.02 |
| 5. (=) | Carmel | Indiana | 3.02 |
| 5. (=) | Fishers | Indiana | 3.02 |
| 5. (=) | Columbus | Indiana | 3.02 |
| 5. (=) | Noblesville | Indiana | 3.02 |
| 5. (=) | Brownsburg | Indiana | 3.02 |
Hawaii suffers from the nation’s slowest mail service, with an average delivery time of 12.23 days found in 10 cities in the state: Ewa Beach, Waipahu, Kaneohe, Honolulu, Mililani, Waianae, Kailua, Kapolei, Hilo, and Aiea.
This means residents face a wait four times longer for delivery than those in Ohio’s speediest cities.
Alaska ranks just slightly better than Hawaii. Parcels take the second longest to arrive for residents in Juneau and Sitka, with an average wait of 10.92 days.
The third-slowest wait time of 10.91 days is shared across eight Alaska cities: Wasilla, Palmer, Soldotna, Seward, Anchorage, Eagle River, Chugiak, and Fairbanks.
For residents in these cities, a package shipped on Monday won’t arrive until the following Thursday under typical conditions.
Of the contiguous United States, Washington and Oregon have the poorest delivery performance.
Three Washington cities (Everett, Lake Stevens, and Marysville) and seven Oregon cities (Eugene, Salem, Bend, Medford, Redmond, Springfield, and McMinnville) share the slowest delivery wait time of 4.82 days.
While significantly slower than Ohio’s record-setting cities, residents in Washington and Oregon still receive mail nearly three times faster than their counterparts in Hawaii and Alaska.
Washington’s Pasco and Kennewick, along with Idaho’s Lewiston, share the second-slowest delivery time among contiguous U.S. cities, at 4.80 days.
Two Montana cities, Missoula and Whitefish, rank joint third, with an average delivery time of 4.79 days.
Slowest Mail Delivery Cities (Contiguous US)
| Rank | City | State | Average delivery time |
| 1. (=) | Everett | Washington | 4.82 |
| 1. (=) | Lake Stevens | Washington | 4.82 |
| 1. (=) | Marysville | Washington | 4.82 |
| 1. (=) | Eugene | Oregon | 4.82 |
| 1. (=) | Salem | Oregon | 4.82 |
| 1. (=) | Bend | Oregon | 4.82 |
| 1. (=) | Medford | Oregon | 4.82 |
| 1. (=) | Redmond | Oregon | 4.82 |
| 1. (=) | Springfield | Oregon | 4.82 |
| 1. (=) | McMinnville | Oregon | 4.82 |
| 2. (=) | Pasco | Washington | 4.80 |
| 2. (=) | Kennewick | Washington | 4.80 |
| 2. (=) | Lewiston | Idaho | 4.80 |
| 3. (=) | Missoula | Montana | 4.79 |
| 3. (=) | Whitefish | Montana | 4.79 |
Commenting on the findings, Mark Ang, CEO & Co-Founder at GoBolt, says,
“Cities with the fastest delivery aren’t necessarily found in major metropolitan areas like Chicago or Los Angeles, but rather in locations optimally situated within existing delivery networks.
“Businesses looking to maximize shipping speed should strongly consider placing their fulfillment operations in these high-performing regions to gain competitive advantages and keep customers happy with quick deliveries.
“It’s understandable that residents in Hawaii and Alaska will have significantly longer wait times for parcels, as postal workers battle vast distances and challenging terrain when delivering to these remote communities.”
Sources:
- USPS delivery maps
- Census data
Methodology:
The campaign retrieved USPS delivery maps and Census data, overlaid delivery regions on state boundaries, calculated each ZIP code’s population-weighted average delivery days for two Ground Advantage tiers, and ranked the top 10 most populous ZIP codes per state by speed.
The study identified each city’s most populous ZIP codes using Census data and then selected the top 10 per state.
Delivery-time data was then retrieved from the USPS service-standard maps for two Ground Advantage tiers:
- Below 1 lb
- Over 1 lb and up to 70 lbs.
Each ZIP code’s delivery regions were overlaid onto state boundaries. For states split across multiple delivery regions, the study apportioned by the share of that state’s population based on how much the region overlapped the state.
The study then computed a population-weighted average delivery time for each ZIP code to every destination state.
The ZIP codes within each state were then ranked by their average delivery time.
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Top U.S. Cities for Fastest Mail Delivery
| Rank | City | State | Average delivery time |
| 1. (=) | Hilliard | Ohio | 2.93 |
| 1. (=) | Lancaster | Ohio | 2.93 |
| 1. (=) | Delaware | Ohio | 2.93 |
| 1. (=) | Columbus | Ohio | 2.93 |
| 2. (=) | Mason | Ohio | 2.96 |
| 2. (=) | Florence | Kentucky | 2.96 |
| 3. (=) | Medina | Ohio | 2.99 |
| 3. (=) | Greensburg | Pennsylvania | 2.99 |
| 3. (=) | Washington | Pennsylvania | 2.99 |
| 4. (=) | New Albany | Indiana | 3.00 |
| 4. (=) | Louisville | Kentucky | 3.00 |
| 5. (=) | Greenwood | Indiana |
…