DETROIT – When you think of the Motor City, you probably think of, well, cars.
But its namesake isn’t all this city is known for. According to some research done last year, Detroit is actually the “best pizza city” in all of the United States!
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A study done by Anytime Estimate, a real estate financing resource hub (that also clearly does fun data projects), found Detroit to be superior when it comes to its “pizza passion” and number of independent pizza restaurants -- not just your common chains.
Researchers examined the 50 largest metro areas in the country and determined the average costs of pizza in each city, how many pizza joints they have (and how many of those are independent) and more.
We’re a-breaking it all down here.
Detroit’s pizza stats
Out of the 50 biggest U.S. cities, Detroit reportedly ranked the highest in the study’s pizza-related metrics -- including in “pizza passion,” which means that “Detroiters appreciate a wide variety of pizza styles, according to local Google search trends.”
The study found that Detroit ranks No. 1 for BBQ chicken pizza Google searches, and No. 2 for Chicago-style pizza. But no other city can do Detroit-style pizza like Detroit, researchers say (obviously).
“Detroit may not be the capital of Michigan, but it’s the true pizza capital of the Midwest -- and the country,” the study reads.
The city is also reportedly No. 2 for “taco pizza” ... which is news to us in the newsroom ... but good for Detroit, I guess?
Here are the stats for Detroit, according to the study:
- Avg. cheese pizza price: $8.29
- Percent of annual income spent on pizza: 0.74%
- Pizza joints per 100,000 residents: 11.5
- Independent pizza joints per 100,000 residents: 6 (the highest of any city)
- Pizza passion score: 100
- Avg. miles to pizza: 1.58 miles
‘Pizza passion’ and prevalence
While Detroit has the highest pizza passion score, other cities came in pretty close -- and they aren’t too far away, literally, either.
The city with the second-highest pizza passion score is, as expected, Chicago. Columbus and Cleveland in Ohio came in second and third, respectively.
Check out the 10 cities with the highest pizza passion scores below:
The amount of pizza places in Detroit only further prove how much love Detroiters have for the the ooey, gooey, cheesy goodness.
There are more independent pizza joints in Detroit per 100,00 residents than any of the other 49 cities examined. Richmond, Virginia, came in close with 5.3 independent pizza places per every 100,000 residents. Louisville, Kentucky has 5.2, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma has 4.6.
When it comes to just overall pizza joints, including chains, Detroit didn’t have the most in 2022, but it did come in sixth place.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has the most pizza joints, with 15.2 per every 100,000 residents. Boston has 14; Columbus, Ohio has 13.1; Providence, Rhode Island has 12.5; Cleveland, Ohio has 12.3; and Detroit has 11.5.
Cheese pizza prices
Most of us probably aren’t just ordering cheese pizza -- though, sometimes, it really does hit the spot. But for a baseline, researchers determined the average cost of a cheese pizza in each of the 50 U.S. cities examined.
As mentioned earlier, the average cost of a cheese pizza in Detroit was reportedly $8.29 in 2022. Detroit didn’t rank on the lists of the most or least expensive cheese pizzas; it came in somewhere in the middle.
The least expensive cheese pizza can apparently be found in St. Louis, coming in at an average of $6.61 per pizza. Nashville, Tennessee and Salt Lake City, Utah came in second and third place for the cheapest cheese pizza, respectively.
Here are the 10 cities with the least expensive cheese pizza:
The most expensive cheese pizza can be found in Connecticut, surprisingly. In the city of Hartford, the average cheese pizza costs $12.52. Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas had the second- and third-highest cheese pizza costs compared to other cities.
New York City did make it on the list, but only came in at No. 6.
Here are the 10 cities with the most expensive cheese pizza:
Worst pizza cities
Some cities just don’t care about pizza the same way we do in the Midwest.
Pizza passion was lowest in New Orleans, scoring a mere 31.3. The horror!
These are the 10 worst pizza cities, according to the study:
- Riverside, California
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Houston, Texas
- San Antonio, Texas
- Miami, Florida
- Memphis, Tennessee
- San Diego, California
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Austin, Texas
Click here to see the entire study for yourself.
Previously on Data Drop: