The 17 Best American Cities for Pizza

Some of these towns invented a style and some just got very good at somebody else's. The map is messier than the rivalry.

1. 1
   New York City

   The slice capital, where a folded wedge is street food and every block argues about its corner shop.
   1000pts
2. 2
   New Haven

   Connecticut city where Frank Pepe opened on Wooster Street in 1925 and coal-fired apizza became a local dialect.
   882pts
3. 3
   Seattle

   Pacific Northwest city where wood-fired and Detroit-style shops arrived late and grew fast.
   741pts
4. 4
   Los Angeles

   Where California-style was invented and where the newest wave of American pizzerias keeps landing.
   661pts
5. 5
   Providence

   Rhode Island's capital, where party pizza strips arrive at room temperature and without cheese.
   600pts
6. 6
   Kansas City

   Midwestern cracker-crust country, where thin square-cut pizza sits on the menu next to the barbecue.
   529pts
7. 7
   Chicago

   Home of deep-dish and, less famously, the cracker-thin tavern squares locals order far more often.
   529pts
8. 8
   Trenton

   New Jersey capital whose tomato pies put the sauce on last and predate most American pizza fashions.
   529pts
9. 9
   Portland

   Oregon city that turned sourdough starters and local produce into a serious modern pizza scene.
   529pts
10. 10
    Boston

    Greek-American pan pizza in the suburbs, bar pies in the North End, and a fierce local roast-beef rivalry.
    448pts
11. 11
    Buffalo

    Cup-and-char pepperoni, thick chewy crust, and pizza almost always ordered alongside wings.
    353pts
12. 12
    Detroit

    Where a bar on Six Mile baked pizza in auto-plant steel pans and gave the square slice its crisp cheese edge.
    353pts
13. 13
    Philadelphia

    Tomato pie sold cold from bakery trays, plus one of the country's densest old-school pizzeria networks.
    241pts
14. 14
    Phoenix

    Desert city that produced Pizzeria Bianco and forced the rest of the country to take Western pizza seriously.
    241pts
15. 15
    San Francisco

    Sourdough-leaning crusts and a Neapolitan revival led by multiple world-champion pizzaioli.
    241pts
16. 16
    St. Louis

    Cracker-crust squares under Provel, a cheese blend that exists mostly to be argued about.
    241pts
17. 17
    Miami

    Where Italian-American slices meet Latin American bakeries and late-night ordering never really stops.
    241pts