Ask how long shipping from China to the US takes and you get one number for the whole country, or a freight forwarder's answer about container ports: the West Coast is faster, the East Coast takes the Panama Canal. Neither tells you what a small parcel does once it is in the US.

Measured on tracked parcels with a first carrier scan from May to July 2026, the median parcel took about 10 days to the Northeast and about 13 to the Mountain states, from the first carrier scan to the delivered scan. Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico took about 20. Almost all of the difference comes after the parcel is handed to the US carrier.

This guide covers:

• How long parcels from China take to each US region, and to the biggest states
• Where in the journey the difference between regions opens up
• Why "the West Coast is faster" does not hold for parcels
• What it means for the delivery time you show at checkout, state by state
• How to check the split on your own orders

How long shipping from China takes to each US region: 10 to 13 days on the mainland

From the first carrier scan in China to the first delivered scan, all lines together:

• Northeast: median 10.1 days, 9 in 10 within 15.7
• Midwest: median 11.3 days, 9 in 10 within 17.9
• Pacific (California, Oregon, Washington): median 12.0 days, 9 in 10 within 17.4
• South: median 12.2 days, 9 in 10 within 18.6
• Mountain states: median 13.0 days, 9 in 10 within 19.0
• Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico: median 20.0 days, 9 in 10 within 33.0
• All of the US: median 11.9 days, 9 in 10 within 18.1

Across the mainland, 98% to 99% of parcels reached a delivered scan in every region. In Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico it was 90%, so the slow end there is longer than the numbers show.

The states, fastest to slowest

By state, the median runs from under 10 days to about 15 on the mainland:

• Fastest: New Jersey 9.8 days, Connecticut 9.9, Washington DC 10.0, Massachusetts and New York 10.1
• The biggest states: Pennsylvania 10.3, Illinois 11.0, California 11.8, Florida 12.6, Texas 12.9
• Slowest on the mainland: New Mexico 13.8, Louisiana and Mississippi 13.9, Wyoming 14.1, Montana 15.3
• Off the mainland: Hawaii 19.8, Puerto Rico 19.9, Alaska 20.7

Two states stand out for a lower delivered-scan share as well as a slower median: Louisiana at 94.8% and Texas at 97.3%, against 98.4% for the US as a whole. Hawaii was 87.3% and Alaska 91.9%.

Where the gap opens: after the US carrier takes over

A parcel from China has two parts to its trip: getting from the first scan in China to the US carrier, and then the US carrier getting it to the door. Measured on each part separately, the first one barely changes by region.

• First scan to the US carrier: 6.6 to 7.1 days at the median in every mainland region
• US carrier to the door: 2.8 days to the Northeast, 3.6 to the Midwest, 4.3 to the Pacific states, 4.7 to the South, 5.2 to the Mountain states
• Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico: 5.8 days to the US carrier, then 14.2 days to the door, and the slowest 1 in 10 took more than 26 days on that last stretch

The two parts are medians over the parcels that showed each scan, so they do not add up to the totals above. The point is the shape: the trip from China takes about the same time wherever the customer lives, and the US delivery network decides the rest.

The order is the same on the two lines that carry most of these parcels. On YunExpress, the median was 9.1 days to the Northeast, 11.2 to the Pacific states and 12.0 to the Mountain states. The line matters most off the mainland: YunExpress parcels to Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico took a median 15.9 days on a smaller sample, against 20.0 across all lines.

Why "the West Coast is faster" is the wrong rule for parcels

Search results about shipping from China to the US are mostly written by freight forwarders. For containers they are right: a ship reaches Los Angeles or Seattle in two to three weeks, and New York takes longer through the Panama Canal.

Small parcels do not go by ship. They fly, they are handed to a US carrier, and they finish by road. On that route the West Coast has no head start: California parcels took a median 11.8 days, about two days more than New Jersey or New York. The sea freight rule could cost you if you promise West Coast customers faster delivery than everyone else.

What it means for the delivery time you show

Your customer counts from the order, not from the first scan. From order to door, 9 in 10 parcels arrived within:

• Northeast: 19.1 days
• Pacific: 20.0 days
• Midwest: 21.5 days
• South: 22.2 days
• Mountain states: 22.3 days
• Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico: 34.6 days

On the mainland, one promise might be enough: the regions sit within about three days of each other at the slow end. Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico are the exception. A US-wide delivery time built on mainland parcels will be wrong for about two weeks of their trip.

Shopify lets a shipping zone hold single states instead of the whole country, so you could give Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico their own zone with a longer delivery time in the rate name. Check that every state still sits in a zone after the change: a state left out of every zone cannot check out. The guide to Shopify shipping settings for a store that ships from China walks through the zones and rate names, and the guide to a shipping policy for a store that ships from China has the wording.

How to check it for your own store

1. Export three months of US orders that are at least six weeks old, with the shipping state, order date, tracking number and delivered date.
2. Group them by region as above, or by your five biggest states.
3. Work out the median and the slowest 1 in 10 of order to delivered for each group.
4. Look up the date the US carrier took over on a sample of slow parcels. If most of the time sits after that date, a different line from China might not change much for that state.
5. Compare the slow end with the delivery time you show. If one group runs past it, give that group its own zone or a longer promise.

What to do

• Use one mainland promise built on the slower regions, not on the US average
• Give Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico their own Shopify zone with a longer delivery time
• Do not promise the West Coast faster delivery on the strength of sea freight times
• Answer "where is my order" by the last scan: a parcel already with the US carrier is in the last few days on the mainland, but could have two weeks left to Hawaii or Alaska
• Measure your own split by state each quarter, because your mix of customers moves the numbers

How we handle this at Commercive

Commercive is your all in one sourcing and fulfilment partner. We recommend frontier lines like YunExpress, Yanwen and 4PX to essentially every brand we work with, and the line is chosen per product and per destination.

Every parcel's scans show in our dashboard from the first carrier scan to the delivered scan, including the handover to the US carrier, so you can see where a parcel to Montana or Hawaii is spending its days and set your promise by state from your own orders. Our measured delivery times by line and country are on our shipping status page, and the guide to how long shipping from China takes breaks down every leg of the trip.

If you're currently running a brand, just give us the product and your daily order volume. We'll get you a quote within the next 24 hours to hold up against what you're paying today.

How we measured this. Every parcel shipped from stores we fulfil from China to a US address with a first carrier scan between 1 May and 31 July 2026, all lines, test stores excluded, measured on 15 October 2026 so every parcel had at least 76 days. The state is the shipping state on the order. Times are calendar days from the first carrier scan to the first delivered scan, on parcels that had both; order to door counts from the order. The two parts of the trip are medians measured separately and leave out Yanwen, whose early US label event makes its handover date unreliable. Regions follow the US Census regions, with the West split into Pacific and Mountain states and Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico grouped on their own; military addresses are left out. States are listed only with a large enough sample. Shopify zone settings are from Shopify's help centre and community forum; sea freight times are from freight forwarder guides, all read on 15 October 2026.

How long does shipping from China to the US take by state?

On parcels with a first carrier scan from May to July 2026, the median from first scan to delivered ran from 9.8 days to New Jersey to 15.3 days to Montana on the mainland. Most states sat between 10 and 13 days. Add your own time from order to first scan for what the customer sees.

How long does shipping from China to Hawaii take?

Parcels to Hawaii took a median 19.8 days from the first carrier scan to delivered, about a week longer than the mainland, and only 87% reached a delivered scan. Alaska took 20.7 days and Puerto Rico 19.9.

Is shipping from China to California faster than to New York?

Not for small parcels. California took a median 11.8 days and New York 10.1. Sea freight reaches the West Coast first, but parcels fly, and the difference sits in the US delivery after the handover.

Why do parcels to some states take longer?

The trip from China to the US carrier took about 7 days to every mainland region. The difference is the last stretch: about 3 days to the Northeast against about 5 to the Mountain states and 14 to Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico.

Should I show a different delivery time for Hawaii and Alaska?

It could save you refund requests. 9 in 10 parcels to Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico arrived within about 35 days of the order, against about 19 to 22 days on the mainland. Shopify lets you put those states in their own shipping zone with their own rate name.