Tampa ranks above Chicago, New York for 'Best Pizza Cities in America'

TAMPA, Fla. — When it comes to the best pizza cities in America, you might be surprised where Tampa falls on the list.

According to Any Time Estimate, Tampa is among the top 15 "Best Pizza Cities in America," and is the highest-ranking city in the state of Florida.

Any Time Estimate scored the 50 largest metro cities in the nation on their "pizza prowess" using the following criteria:

• 5x: Google Trends interest in 20 pizza variations
• 3x: Pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents
• 2x: Pizza restaurants per square mile
• 2x: Google Trends interest in general pizza terms
• 1x: Independent pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents
• 1x: Average price and affordability of cheese pizza (the cheaper the better)
• 1x: Average price and affordability of pepperoni pizza (the cheaper the better)
• -1x: Big chain pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents

Any Time Estimate said of Tampa, "Home of the NHL's Lightning, Tampa residents can find quality pizza in a flash. The city has a restaurant every 1.75 miles, 38% better than the average city we studied. Tampa also has 4.3 independent pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents — seventh-most of the cities we measured. Fans of Tampa pizza must have an affinity for the Mediterranean, as the city ranks No. 4 in search interest for Greek pizza and No. 5 in interest for Neapolitan pizza."

The top 15 cities in the ranking are:

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

Any Time Estimate said the top 15 cities stand out because:

• The top 15 cities have 10.5 pizzerias per 100,000 residents, 31.3% more than the average city analyzed.
• The top 15 cities showed passion for a wide variety of pizzas, with a 20.6% higher average Google Trends rating across all 20 pizza varieties analyzed.
• The top 15 cities have a pizza place every 2.1 miles compared to 2.8 for the average city in the study, a 26% shorter distance.
• The top 15 cities have an average pepperoni pizza price of $7.83 compared to $8.39 for the average city looked at, a 6.7% difference.
• Buying a pepperoni pizza every week would cost residents in the top 15 cities 0.65% of their annual income compared to the average of 0.71% for all cities studied.

Click here to read the full study from Any Time Estimate.