States With the Most Pizza Places per Person
JerryGrugin / iStock Editorial via Getty ImagesPizza is one of the four basic food groups, at least in the United States. Originally from Naples, it was brought to the U.S. by Italian immigrants in the 19th century. The first dedicated…
Pizza is one of the four basic food groups, at least in the United States. Originally from Naples, it was brought to the U.S. by Italian immigrants in the 19th century. The first dedicated pizzeria opened in New York around the beginning of the 20th century — there are conflicting stories as to when exactly, though Lombardi’s in Manhattan’s Little Italy claims to have been the pioneer, back in 1905 — and now there are pizza places everywhere. (These are the 25 best pizza places in America.)
24/7 Tempo has assembled a list of the states with the most pizza places per capita, based on the Pizza Index 2021 published by the financial advisory site Expensivity. The site derived the number of pizzerias in each state from Yelp and MenuWithPrice, and 24/7 Tempo used U.S. Census Bureau data to add population figures, then used them to compute the number of pizzerias per 100,000 people.
The state with the largest number of total pizzerias is California, but because its population is so large, it falls to No. 43 on a per capita basis. At least in part for the same reason, the famous pizza capital of New York comes in at No. 24, while Illinois — famous for Chicago’s unique deep-dish pies — ranks only No. 12. (New York City and Chicago place highly, however, on our list of the best cities for pizza lovers.)
Click here to see the states with the most pizzerias per capita
The No. 1 state for pizzerias per 100,000 residents is tiny Rhode Island. It may be the smallest state in area and the ninth-smallest in population — but a big percentage of that population is of Italian origin. The same is true of Rhode Island’s neighbor, No. 2 Connecticut, considered by some experts to have the best pizza in America. Hawaii, on the other hand, is the state with the fewest pizza places. It’s the farthest state from Rhode Island and its cuisine has more Asian influences than Italian.
50. Hawaii
> Pizzerias per 100K: 15.1
> Population: 1,415,872
49. Louisiana
> Pizzerias per 100K: 16.4
> Population: 4,648,794
48. Alabama
> Pizzerias per 100K: 17.5
> Population: 4,903,185
47. Texas
> Pizzerias per 100K: 18.0
> Population: 28,995,881
46. Georgia
> Pizzerias per 100K: 18.1
> Population: 10,617,423
45. New Mexico
> Pizzerias per 100K: 18.2
> Population: 2,096,829
44. Washington
> Pizzerias per 100K: 18.3
> Population: 7,614,893
43. California
> Pizzerias per 100K: 18.5
> Population: 39,512,223
42. Mississippi
> Pizzerias per 100K: 18.5
> Population: 2,976,149
41. Arizona
> Pizzerias per 100K: 18.6
> Population: 7,278,717
40. Utah
> Pizzerias per 100K: 18.9
> Population: 3,205,958
39. Colorado
> Pizzerias per 100K: 20.5
> Population: 5,758,736
38. Alaska
> Pizzerias per 100K: 20.6
> Population: 731,545
37. South Carolina
> Pizzerias per 100K: 20.7
> Population: 5,148,714
36. Oregon
> Pizzerias per 100K: 20.9
> Population: 4,217,737
35. Tennessee
> Pizzerias per 100K: 21.2
> Population: 6,829,174
34. North Carolina
> Pizzerias per 100K: 21.3
> Population: 10,488,084
33. Wisconsin
> Pizzerias per 100K: 22.0
> Population: 5,822,434
32. Florida
> Pizzerias per 100K: 22.6
> Population: 21,477,737
31. Nevada
> Pizzerias per 100K: 22.6
> Population: 3,080,156
30. Virginia
> Pizzerias per 100K: 22.7
> Population: 8,535,519
29. Oklahoma
> Pizzerias per 100K: 22.9
> Population: 3,956,971
28. Minnesota
> Pizzerias per 100K: 23.3
> Population: 5,639,632
27. Idaho
> Pizzerias per 100K: 23.4
> Population: 1,787,065
26. Maryland
> Pizzerias per 100K: 23.6
> Population: 6,045,680
25. Nebraska
> Pizzerias per 100K: 23.8
> Population: 1,934,408
24. Illinois
> Pizzerias per 100K: 23.9
> Population: 12,671,821
23. Arkansas
> Pizzerias per 100K: 23.9
> Population: 3,017,804
22. Kentucky
> Pizzerias per 100K: 24.4
> Population: 4,467,673
21. Missouri
> Pizzerias per 100K: 24.8
> Population: 6,137,428
20. Montana
> Pizzerias per 100K: 25.8
> Population: 1,068,778
19. Kansas
> Pizzerias per 100K: 26.1
> Population: 2,913,314
18. Maine
> Pizzerias per 100K: 26.3
> Population: 1,344,212
17. Wyoming
> Pizzerias per 100K: 26.3
> Population: 578,759
16. North Dakota
> Pizzerias per 100K: 27.2
> Population: 762,062
15. Michigan
> Pizzerias per 100K: 27.4
> Population: 9,986,857
14. Vermont
> Pizzerias per 100K: 28.2
> Population: 623,989
13. Indiana
> Pizzerias per 100K: 29.1
> Population: 6,732,219
12. New York
> Pizzerias per 100K: 29.4
> Population: 19,453,561
11. South Dakota
> Pizzerias per 100K: 29.6
> Population: 884,659
10. West Virginia
> Pizzerias per 100K: 31.2
> Population: 1,792,147
9. Ohio
> Pizzerias per 100K: 32.0
> Population: 11,689,100
8. New Hampshire
> Pizzerias per 100K: 33.5
> Population: 1,359,711
7. Massachusetts
> Pizzerias per 100K: 33.6
> Population: 6,892,503
6. Delaware
> Pizzerias per 100K: 34.0
> Population: 973,764
5. Iowa
> Pizzerias per 100K: 34.6
> Population: 3,155,070
4. New Jersey
> Pizzerias per 100K: 35.7
> Population: 8,882,190
3. Pennsylvania
> Pizzerias per 100K: 36.2
> Population: 12,801,989
2. Connecticut
> Pizzerias per 100K: 36.8
> Population: 3,565,278
1. Rhode Island
> Pizzerias per 100K: 37.3
> Population: 1,059,361
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Sarah Burns is an editor and writer at 24/7 Wall St. She previously worked at AOL and MSN. She began her career in book publishing at Viking Press/Penguin Books and has been writing and editing general and financial news stories for the last 15 years.
In addition to 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo, her stories have appeared in USA Today, MSN, MarketWatch, Business Insider, and Yahoo Finance.
Sarah has edited numerous travel and garden books. She teaches urban farming in New York City public schools and is an instructor at the New York Botanical Garden. She graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine with a bachelor’s degree in English. She is based in New York City.
