Pizza is an American staple, an easy and generally inexpensive option for a snack or a main meal. There are pizzerias all over the country and, while prices don’t vary enormously, some places definitely charge more for a pie than others.
24/7 Wall St. has ranked all 50 states according to the average price of a cheese pizza in each one. Bear in mind that this average encompasses both chains serving low-cost pizzas and fancier artisanal operations. Prices are drawn from the Pizza Index 2021 published by the financial advisory site Expensivity, which considered the comparative prices of a cheese pizza in 259 cities around the country based on information from MenuWithPrice. (These are the American cities with the most pizza places.)
Expensivity considered any offering described as “plain pizza,” “cheese pizza,” or “Margherita pizza,” but didn’t differentiate between pies of different sizes, so the averages given reflect the prices of qualifying pizzas of all sizes.
It turns out that Alaska is the state with the most expensive pizza. A lot of things are more expensive in Alaska because of transportation and other costs; it’s far from other states and internal distances are also great. However, Hawaii is near the middle of the list, and it’s thousands of miles from the mainland, so distance alone isn’t necessarily a factor.
Click here to see what pizza costs in every state.
New York, famous for its pizza (especially in the five boroughs of New York City), ranks relatively high on the list at No. 12. Illinois, home of Chicago deep-dish pizza, comes in at No. 33. Cheapest of all? North Dakota. (Both New York and Illinois — but not North Dakota — are represented in our ranking of the best pizza places in America.)
50. North Dakota
> Avg price of plain pizza: $6.64
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49. Rhode Island
> Avg price of plain pizza: $6.68
48. Massachusetts
> Avg price of plain pizza: $6.79
47. Oregon
> Avg price of plain pizza: $6.96
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46. Utah
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7
45. Delaware
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.01
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44. Ohio
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.02
43. South Carolina
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.10
42. New Hampshire
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.14
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41. Indiana
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.15
40. Virginia
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.19
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39. Missouri
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.21
38. South Dakota
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.23
37. Minnesota
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.27
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36. North Carolina
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.28
35. Texas
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.31
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34. Georgia
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.32
33. Illinois
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.33
32. Florida
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.40
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31. Nevada
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.46
30. Tennessee
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.52
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29. Wisconsin
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.56
28. Arizona
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.56
27. Michigan
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.63
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26. Arkansas
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.65
25. West Virginia
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.67
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24. California
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.69
23. New Mexico
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.70
22. Louisiana
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.71
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21. Hawaii
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.72
20. Idaho
> Avg price of plain pizza: $7.91
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19. Washington
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.01
18. Iowa
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.04
17. Nebraska
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.06
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16. Maryland
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.06
15. New Jersey
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.11
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14. Maine
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.19
13. Alabama
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.22
12. Colorado
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.23
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11. New York
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.27
10. Wyoming
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.39
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9. Kansas
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.51
8. Mississippi
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.56
7. Kentucky
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.60
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6. Pennsylvania
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.72
5. Connecticut
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.76
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4. Vermont
> Avg price of plain pizza: $8.83
3. Oklahoma
> Avg price of plain pizza: $9
2. Montana
> Avg price of plain pizza: $9.07
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1. Alaska
> Avg price of plain pizza: $9.21
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