According to a study released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2014, one in eight Americans can be found eating pizza on any given day. Pizza is a $40 billion industry and almost 60,000 pizza restaurants open their doors each day in the United States alone. With 3 billion pizzas sold each year, it's no question that the cheesy slices are a major part of the American diet.
But not all pizza is created equal, and some cities around the U.S. are consistently better than others at pushing out quality pies. That's why real estate intelligence site FindTheHome set out to find the pizza capitals of America. Using Yelp's API, Yelp Fusion, the data scientists calculated an aggregate "Pizza Score" for all cities with at least 100,000 people. They used three sub-metrics to measure pizza prevalence, inherent quality and quality compared to other types of food. Those three metrics include:
- Prevalence: The total number of pizza restaurants in a given city - Inherent Quality: The percentage of pizza restaurants in a given city rated with four or more stars - Quality Compared to Other foods: The average Yelp rating of pizza restaurants in a given city compared to the average rating of all restaurants in that city
FindTheHome compared the average scores of pizza restaurants to other non-pizza restaurants to ensure that the cities on the list sell pizza that stands out in comparison to other types of food — think Chinese or Mexican food. The list is ranked by the Pizza Score, with the highest score being the No. 1 pizza capital in America. When ties occur, the cities are ordered according to the average rating for pizza restaurants in that city.
Whether you love the Big Apple's thin-crust pie by the slice, or you think it's Chicago deep-dish or bust, we've settled the score.
#25. Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky
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Pizza Score: 77.07 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.70 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 60 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 27
#24. Mesa, Arizona
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Pizza Score: 77.12 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.30 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 108 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 35
#23. Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky
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Pizza Score: 78.03 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.50 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 93 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 45
#22. Chattanooga, Tennessee
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Pizza Score: 78.23 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.70 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 38 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 22
#21. Charlotte, North Carolina
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Pizza Score: 78.36 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.30 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 164 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 55
#20. Knoxville, Tennessee
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Pizza Score: 78.48 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.50 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 70 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 28
#19. Stockton, California
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Pizza Score: 78.58 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.50 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 58 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 25
#18. Los Angeles, California
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Pizza Score: 79.08 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.40 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 799 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 318
#17. Berkeley, California
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Pizza Score: 79.45 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.70 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 40 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 22
#16. Tucson, Arizona
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Pizza Score: 79.60 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.40 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 126 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 45
#15. Scottsdale, Arizona
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Pizza Score: 79.75 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.60 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 83 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 38
#14. Colorado Springs, Colorado
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Pizza Score: 80.02 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.40 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 95 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 32
#13. Irvine, California
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Pizza Score: 80.55 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.50 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 44 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 19
#12. San Diego, California
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Pizza Score: 80.70 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.40 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 385 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 163
#11. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
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Pizza Score: 81.15 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.30 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 128 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 53
#10. Columbus, Ohio
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Pizza Score: 84.13 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.80 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 108 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 62
#9. El Paso, Texas
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Pizza Score: 85.85 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.60 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 67 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 36
#8. Raleigh, North Carolina
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Pizza Score: 85.95 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.50 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 125 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 59
#7. Portland, Oregon
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Pizza Score: 86.15 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.60 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 226 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 105
#6. Jacksonville, Florida
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Pizza Score: 86.32 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.40 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 192 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 75
#5. Seattle, Washington
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Pizza Score: 86.34 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.50 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 226 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 110
#4. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Pizza Score: 87.16 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 4.00 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 87 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 66
#3. Phoenix, Arizona
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Pizza Score: 88.71 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.40 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 330 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 131
#2. New York City, New York
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Pizza Score: 89.13 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.40 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 1,795 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 697
#1. Chicago, Illinois
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Pizza Score: 89.63 Average Rating of Pizza Restaurants: 3.50 Number of Pizza Restaurants: 437 Number of 4 to 5 Star Pizza Restaurants: 171