Does Detroit-style pizza make it the best pizza city? Photo courtesy Walt & Whitman.
What’s the best city in the USA for pizza? According to this source it’s Detroit, for the second year in a row. Diving into details:
- Detroit is America’s best city for pizza, with low prices and the highest online search activity for pizza.
- Americans think New York is the best pizza city, with 41% listing it among their top five pizza cities. Los Angeles (40%) ranks No. 2, and Chicago ranks No. 3 (35%).
- Americans are the least impressed with Oklahoma City, Providence, Rhode Island, and Columbus, Ohio — just 2% consider them top five pizza cities.
- Phoenix is the most improved pizza city, rising to No. 4 in our rankings from No. 42 last year because of its high Yelp ratings for pizza restaurants and a strong showing in our pizza reputation poll.
- Pennsylvania is the surprising best state for pizza, with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh each making the top 10.
- San Diego’s pizza restaurants have the highest average Yelp rating at 4.2 stars.
- Memphis, Tennessee, has the lowest average at 3.1 stars.
- Buffalo, New York, has the highest rate of pizza restaurants per capita, with 17.9 pizza shops per 100,000 residents.
- Dallas has the lowest rate, with just 2.7 pizza restaurants per 100,000 people.
- Cleveland has the most affordable pizza prices. A large cheese pizza costs about $12.40, nearly 3x cheaper than the $30.67 you’d pay in New York.
- San Antonio is the worst city for pizza, with high prices and very little interest in pizza, according to online search activity.
At this point you’re probably asking, who sez? The rankings come from Clever, which does research for real estate companies. (If you are thinking about moving to a new city, or want justification for staying where you are, localized factoids are probably of great interest.) Here’s their methodology:
The cities in this study are ranked according to six different factors, which were independently weighted and combined to produce our final results. The factors are:
- A Pollfish survey of 1,000 Americans, who identified cities with a great pizza scene (30.8%)
- Our “pizza passion” score — a combination of Google search volume for 25 different pizza terms (30.7%)
- Average price of a large cheese pizza (15.4%)
- Average price of a large pepperoni pizza (7.7%)
- Average Yelp rating of pizza restaurants in the city (7.7%)
- Pizza restaurants per 100,000 people (7.7%)
Detail of the crispy edge on a Detroit style pizza. Photo courtesy our Yelp friend Roger K.
Data sources include Yelp, Google Trends, the U.S. Census, our own survey data, and numerous individual pizza restaurant websites.
Notice anything missing? Yep, the standardization on “large cheese pizza” and “large pepperoni pizza” assumes that all pizzas everywhere are the same which they certainly are not. Detroit features a distinctive style with the pie baked in a well-oiled sheet pan, so the edges become crispy. (Our photos come from Walt & Whitman in Saratoga Springs NY, which prides itself on its fidelity to the original.) It’s very different from the Greek style pizza at Campisi’s in Dallas or the chicken enchilada pizza which was ranked as a top choice by San Antonio Magazine.
It’s fun to make lists like this and just as fun to find fault with them. We’re especially cranky because our benighted Capital District is not included, since Clever focuses on the biggest cities in each state and Albany is #6 in New York. Which means New Haven CT, which actually is the best city for pizza, does not make the cut. Sorry, Frank Pepe.
With their pseudo-pan style crust and strange sizing system the Capital Region pizza shouldn’t really be in the conversation anyway.
Which Cap district pizza are you speaking of? Sounds like the Price Chopper style to me….
That is also a fair example but I see them at Testo’s, I Love, Tuscan Oven, nasty Red Front….but those places also make conventional style as well even if the crust is too thick. The sizing is far stranger to me.
The form factor of the Price Chopper pizza, and maybe some of the others you mention, is a half sheet pan. Yes? The imbalance of dough and toppings is a separate issue. Some Neapolitan style advocates might say it’s all about the thin crust and the toppings should be light. But that is not an excuse for serving up a wad of bread, essentially, with a bit of tomato sauce and cheese on top.
“Our photos come from Walt & Whitman in Saratoga Springs NY, which prides itself on its fidelity to the original.”
I don’t see any mention of brick cheese. That’s an instant fail.
I looked up “Does Walt+Whitman use brick cheese” on the Bing Chatbot and got this: 10 Things You Might Not Know About Walt Whitman. Now THAT’S a fail.
You might explain what brick cheese is. An exotic rarity in Central NY. Not brick shaped cheese. River Rat in Clayton NY has a “Beer Kaese, (a mild Limburger)” Flip it over It’s “German Brick Cheese” From Chalet in Monroe WI. Which they distribute.
ok, this is getting confusing. John who is my neighbor in Saratoga Springs raised the issue of brick cheese. It seems unlikely to me that a Detroit pizzeria would use a cheese that is really limburger from central NY. And even if mild, we should recognize some funkiness which is not ever mentioned as part of the Detroit pizza profile. John, if you are still out there maybe you want to clarify.
This is from Chuckeye Dave, who made the original comment on Brick Cheese above. Is he stirring the pot, or muddying the waters? Comment please!! Cut and pasting his message here:
The only time I’ve seem brick cheese in a store in CNY, other than the
Chalet stuff,
was is the deli of https://www.mainesfood.net/. Long gone in North Syracuse.
In a loaf for slicing. It does exist in the Midwest.
https://chaletcheesecoop.com/product-category/cheese/brick-cheese/
https://www.widmerscheese.com/the-story-of-wisconsin-brick-cheese/
Limburger, Beerkase (various spellings) and Brick are different cheeses.
But if I were River Rat, and had to sell it in a sea of cheddar and curds,
mild Limburger is a good description. And it is good.
Detroit Style: Papa Johns! (Never had)
No mention of Utica style pizza? Then and call it tomato pie?
Stir the pot!
I know a guy from Detroit. He says Muenster is the closest substitute for brick.
Thank you John! here is the wikipedia entry for those who want to descend further down this rabbit hole: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muenster_cheese
Didn’t think of that! Muenster sounds reasonable. Similar taste, melts well. I’ll try it on one of my pizza attempts.