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2023’s Best Cities for Pizza Lovers

Staff Report

Wednesday, February 8th, 2023

There’s no better way to celebrate National Pizza Day on Feb. 9 than by chomping down on a big pizza pie.

Which cities are serving up the best slice? 

LawnStarter compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities to rank 2023's Best Cities for Pizza Lovers.

We looked for cities with plenty of highly rated pizza vendors and award-winning pizzerias. We also considered pizza affordability and popularity.

Find out which 10 cities are best (and which 10 are worst) for pizza lovers below, followed by some highlights and lowlights from our report. (See where your city ranks.)
 
 

Best Cities for Pizza Lovers

Rank

City

1

New York, NY

2

San Francisco, CA

3

Chicago, IL

4

Miami, FL

5

Las Vegas, NV

6

Los Angeles, CA

7

Fort Lauderdale, FL

8

Washington, DC

9

Portland, OR

10

Phoenix, AZ
 

Worst Cities for Pizza Lovers

Rank

City

1

Hayward, CA

2

Mobile, AL

3

Aurora, IL

4

West Valley City, UT

5

Shreveport, LA

6

Newark, NJ

7

Salinas, CA

8

Jackson, MS

9

Bakersfield, CA

10

Moreno Valley, CA

Highlights and Lowlights:

  • Pizza Paradise: New York stands tall in first place as the capital of the Pizza Belt and the nation’s pizza empire. All competition folds in the wake of the Big Pizza, which has more than a 40-point lead over the next-best city, San Francisco.

    Highly rated New York pizza vendors are recognized internationally, with the most pizzerias included in Italy’s international pizza guide in recent years. You can’t go far in NYC without encountering one of more than 1,500 pizza vendors feeding the city. 

  • Saucy Cities: We all know Chicago (No. 3) serves iconic deep-dish pizza, but what about San Francisco (No. 2), Miami (No. 4), and Las Vegas (No. 5)? 

    Each of these four cities baked their way into the top five, thanks to abundant Access and numerous Accolades. San Francisco beat out Chi-town with more affordable slices (when adjusted by income) and more pizzerias recognized by international pizza awards.

  • California Crusts — Hit or Miss: Golden State cities spread out across our ranking, with two landing in our top 10 and four in our bottom 10. While it’s easy to find a decent pie in big cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles (No. 6), and San Diego (No. 13), that’s not the case for smaller California cities.

    Unfortunately, cities like Moreno Valley, Bakersfield, and Salinas, crisped to the bottom, along with Hayward in last place. These four cities dough not offer many impressive pizzerias, with some of the lowest rankings in Quality, Popularity, and Accolades. 

Our full ranking is available here: https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-cities-for-pizza-addicts/