Move over Chicago and New York City: you aren’t the best cities for pizza, new study says

Which city has the best pizza?

Detroit was arguably already the pizza capital of the Midwest, but now it can add “pizza capital of the United States” to the list, according to a new ranking from loan company Anytime Estimate.

The Motor City ranks high on multiple metrics. Detroit has the most independent pizzerias per capita (6 per 100,000 residents) — nearly double the average of 3.1 in the 50 cities analyzed — and has the biggest appreciation for a variety of pie styles.

Detroit also ranks No. 1 for BBQ chicken pizza searches, No. 2 for Chicago-style pizza, and, of course, tops the rankings when it comes to the hometown creation of the Detroit-style pizza: a thick crust square pizza with crisp corners of brick cheese first originated by Buddy’s Pizza.

The city also ranks No. 2 for taco pizza (behind Indianapolis), top 10 in pizzeria density (one pizza restaurant every 1.58 miles), and top 10 in best prices for pepperoni pizza ($7.54).

Which state is really the best for pizza?

According to that same ranking report, it’s not New York. It’s Ohio, with Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati all ranking in the top 20 pizza cities in the U.S.

Cleveland was ranked second, while Columbus ranked third and Cincinnati is 19th overall.

The list, which scored the 50 largest metros in the country, was based on the following criteria:

• Google Trends interest in 20 pizza variations.
• Pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents.
• Pizza restaurants per square mile.
• Google Trends interest in general pizza terms.
• Independent pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents.
• Average price and affordability of cheese pizza.
• Average price and affordability of pepperoni pizza.
• Big chain pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents.

According to the list, Cincinnati’s average cheese pizza price was $7.02, the annual cost of weekly pizza was $365.04, and the percentage of annual income spent on pizza was 0.61%.

The city also has 9.8 pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents, 3.7 independent pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents, a “pizza passion” score of 81.3 and the average number of miles to the nearest pizza 2.53.

Here are the top 15 cities for pizza:

• 1. Detroit
• 2. Cleveland
• 3. Columbus
• 4. Boston
• 5. Pittsburgh
• 6. Indianapolis
• 7. Providence
• 8. St. Louis
• 9. Philadelphia
• 10. Norfolk
• 11. Baltimore
• 12. Tampa
• 13. Minneapolis
• 14. Chicago
• 15. Nashville

Surprisingly, New York City, known for its wide, thin crust style pizza, was ranked 22nd.

“Although the Big Apple definitely has many positives for pie-lovers, its pizza culture has a fair share of flaws,” Anytime Estimate said. Those flaws include few independent pizzerias, pizzerias per 100,000 residents and different styles of pizza.

Contributing: Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY