New York City has always been famous for its pizza – it also officially has the most expensive, a new report reveals.
Researchers compared the price of a large cheese pizza in the 50 largest metro areas in America to work out who is forking out the most dough for their pies.
The Big Apple came in as the priciest with a large cheese pizza costing an average of $28.60 across the city.
That’s almost double the cost in the nation’s cheapest pizza city, Richmond, Virginia where $14.75 will get you a large pie.
Checking prices was one of several measures to work out which cities are best over all for pizza. Scroll down for details on that or look at our interactive map here.
Chicago is famous for its deep dish pizza like this one. The city was ranked 14th over all for pizza in terms of eight factors such quality, number of restaurants and price. It is the second pricest for a large cheese pizza at $28.66 on average - which lowered its overall rank
New York City is priciest for a full pizza - with a cheese one like this $28.60 on average. The city was ranked 15th in the US for pizza, with factors such as pizzeria ratings taken into account
The price of a slice can vary hugely within state lines as well.
Los Angeles' $25.05 cheese pizza makes it the 4th most expensive pizza city while just 50 miles away in Riverside, CA you can grab yourself the 6th cheapest cheese pie in the country for just $15.99.
Other than NYC and Chicago - two cities known for their pizzas - the west coast dominates the top 10 for priciest pizza, with the exception of Orlando coming in at number 3.
The home of Disney World aside, cities in the south and midwest reign supreme on the top 10 most affordable list taking up 8 of the 10 spots.
Regardless of where you live, pizza prices are rising across the nation.
Across America the average price for a full pie is $19.34 - up 4 percent from last year. That is a faster increase than the overall rate of inflationat 3.5 percent.
As with anything, the cost of rent and wages in different cities have a considerable effect on prices.
Which city is best for pizza in 2024?
It's Denver, Colorado, according to Clever Real Estate's report. See the box below for their full methodology.
In a nutshell, they looked at eight measures - including, as well as price, the number of restaurants and how well they were rated plus a so-called 'pizza passion' score based on local Google searches. Across those, the Mile High City rose to the top.
Denver had the second-highest score on average Yelp reviews at 4.05 stars, scored 82 out of 100 on pizza passion and it is also affordable with a large cheese pizza averaging just $16.79, number 12 on the list.
After two years in a row as the best pizza city, Detroit lost its top spot and fell to number 9 in the 2024 rankings.
Detroit-style pizza above. Detroit was ranked numnber one over all for pizza in the US last year, but has fallen to number nine this year due to rising prices and lower rankings for restaurants
Italian-style pepperoni pizza pie - a favorite in New York and across the US
Pennsylvania ranks as the best state for pizza with two cities - Philadelphia at number 4 and Pittsburgh at number 10 - in the top 10 best pizza cities.
New York City still reigns as the city with the best reputation for pizza - outranking Chicago in survey results.
But Buffalo, New York has the highest rate of pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents in the nation at 17.8 to NYC's 9.7.
And which city is the worst for pizza in America? With only 3.5 pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents, a lack of 'pizza passion' among residents, and pricey pies averaging $19.69: Memphis, Tennessee.