Amazon says that it plans to expand its same-day and next-day delivery services by the end of the year to customers in more than 4,000 small U.S. cities, towns and rural communities.

In a June 24 release from the company, Amazon detailed a goal to ensure that "speed-critical" essential items can reach customers in underserved regions, including rural parts of Texas, Iowa, Delaware and Ohio among others. This comes after Amazon announced plans in April to spend $4 billion to triple the size of its rural delivery network by adding 200 new delivery stations. Amazon says that it's also improved its delivery speeds in rural areas by 50% since 2023. 

“This expansion goes beyond speed," the company said. "It’s about transforming daily life for rural customers, who typically live farther from brick-and-mortar retailers, have fewer product and brand choices, and face limited delivery options when shopping online."

Amazon is working to transition its existing delivery stations in rural areas into so-called "hybrid hubs" as well, where inventory will be stored on-site to speed up delivery times, and cut down on the distance a product needs to travel once a customer places an order. Inventory at those hubs will be determined by machine-learning algorithms that track and identify frequently-purchased items from people in specific regions.