10 Popular U.S. Pizza Styles Organized By Regional Preference

New York-Style: America’s Undisputed Champion

The numbers don’t lie when it comes to America’s pizza preference. New York’s the top pizza style in 42 states and the District of Columbia. It’s about three times as popular as Neapolitan and its wood-fired and brick-oven relatives, which have now overtaken Chicago’s double-crusted deep-dish pizza to become America’s Second Pizza, according to an extensive analysis of millions of Yelp reviews.

This isn’t particularly surprising when you think about it. When asked about preferences among eight regional styles, 27% say New York-style is their favorite. Northeasterners are particularly likely to favor New York-style pizza, at 47%. The thin, hand-tossed crust with its perfect balance of crispy edges and foldable center has become the gold standard that most Americans recognize as “real pizza.”

Detroit-Style: The Rising Star Taking America by Storm

In a delicious twist of fate, Detroit-style pizza has gained significant popularity. This deep-dish delight, known for its thick, crispy crust and reverse layering of cheese and toppings, has seen remarkable growth nationwide, marking a significant shift in culinary trends. What makes this even more remarkable is that more than 80% of consumers who have tried it say they like it or love it.

The Detroit story is pure American ingenuity at its finest. The Detroit-style pizza originated in the kitchen of Buddy’s Pizza in 1946 at the intersection of Six Mile Road and Conant Street on Detroit’s east side. Owner Gus Guerra and his team borrowed forged steel pans from a local auto plant, birthing a uniquely layered square pie. Today, this style has exploded nationwide, from Minneapolis to San Francisco, proving that innovation paired with great taste can conquer America’s palate.

Chicago Deep-Dish: The Midwest’s Hearty Favorite

Chicago-style pizza represents more than just a regional preference – it’s practically a philosophy. Chicago-style pizza – often called deep dish – comes in second with 19%, followed by Detroit-style pizza at 4%. Midwesterners are most likely to favor Chicago-style pizza (30%). This isn’t just pizza; it’s what locals call “more of a meal,” and they’re absolutely right about that.

The deep-dish approach flips everything you think you know about pizza construction on its head. Unlike thin-crust varieties where cheese melts on top, Chicago style builds layers like a savory pie, with cheese on the bottom, toppings in the middle, and sauce crowning the top. It’s the kind of pizza that requires both hands, a fork, and probably a nap afterward.

New Haven Apizza: Connecticut’s Coal-Fired Treasure

New Haven-style pizza is a thin-crust, coal-fired Neapolitan pizza style of pizza which is common in and around New Haven, Connecticut. Locally known as apizza, it originated in 1925 at the Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana. What sets this style apart isn’t just its pronunciation (it’s “ah-beetz,” by the way), but its distinctive approach to pizza construction.

Here’s where things get interesting: even today, you need to specifically ask for cheese, or “mootz,” on your New Haven pie if you want any at all. The coal-charred pizzas are topped with a sharp red sauce but also come in a white clam variety. The charring that some might mistake for burning is actually the signature of a properly cooked apizza. New Haven-style pizza, including the regional take called white clam pizza that builds on Connecticut’s reputation as a prime location for shell fishing, was the favorite among about a quarter of respondents in regional preference surveys.

Greek-Style: New England’s Oil-Kissed Classic

A Greek immigrant from Albania, Costas “Charlie” Kitsatis is believed to have invented the thicker-than-Neapolitan style at his Pizza House restaurant on Truman Street in New London in 1955. By the 1980s, nearly half of all pizzerias in the state were run by Greeks. This style has become synonymous with New England pizza culture, even though it has little to do with actual Greek cuisine.

Originating from Greek immigrants in New England, this type of pizza is baked inside of a pan in the oven instead of being laid straight on the bricks, so the crust comes out thick, soft and crispy (nearly fried) on the edges. It’s also known for being greasy – it’s made with lots of olive oil, which often soaks through the bottom of the pizza box. New England Greek-style pizza is typically topped with tomato sauce, lots of oregano, mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Yes, cheddar cheese on pizza – it’s a New England thing.

California-Style: The Gourmet Pioneer

Among people who live in the West, 19% prefer California-style pizza – though about as many (18%) prefer New York-style pizza, showing how regional preferences can be more complex than simple geography might suggest. California-style pizza emerged in the 1980s as part of the farm-to-table movement, emphasizing fresh, high-quality ingredients that would make a traditional pizza purist’s head spin.

California-style pizza is known for its emphasis on fresh, high-quality ingredients and innovative toppings. This style emerged in the 1980s, influenced by California’s diverse culinary scene and the farm-to-table movement. California-style pizza often features unconventional toppings and a focus on seasonal produce. We’re talking about pizzas topped with everything from smoked salmon to goat cheese, arugula to barbecued chicken – ingredients that would have seemed absolutely bizarre on pizza just decades ago.

Buffalo-Style: Western New York’s Comfort Food

Though it’s not particularly common outside Western New York, Buffalo-style pizza starts with a carb-bomb of a crust, a thick, oily creation that is more similar to a chewy bread than it is to a pizza crust. It’s then topped with a mild red sauce and epic amounts of cheese. And while you could stop there, in order to truly experience Buffalo-style, the pizza must be ordered with pepperoni.

But not just any pepperoni will do. More specifically, the curled up, slightly charred pepperonis that have little pools of grease in the middle. Biting into one is like a sensory trip to a Buffalo Bills tailgate, minus jumping into the tables. Unfortunately, Buffalo-style pizza also failed to rank in YouGov’s breakdown of America’s favorite pizza styles in 2023 (which put New York-style pizza in first place), suggesting this regional favorite might be fighting an uphill battle for national recognition.

Sicilian-Style: The Thick-Crusted Grandparent

Sicilian pizza originated in Sicily, Italy. The crust is thick and sponge-like. This is the differentiating factor that sets it apart from other Italian pizzas, as well as the topping options. The pizza is cut into a rectangle and cooked with plenty of olive oil. This style serves as the foundation for many American regional variations, particularly Detroit-style pizza.

What makes Sicilian pizza unique isn’t just its thickness – it’s the construction method. While you can choose in which order you place the sauce and cheese, Sicilian pizza typically layers the sauce on top of the cheese. It is often topped with onions, anchovies, tomatoes, herbs and strong cheese such as caciocavallo and toma. Around New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, square, bready Sicilian pizza remains the dominant local alternative to traditional New York-style slices.

St. Louis-Style: Missouri’s Ultra-Thin Controversy

The one exception to the rule may be a St. Louis-style pizza, which today divides even those raised under its rule. Defined by its extremely thin and crispy square crust and use of Provel cheese, St. Louis-style pizza is most famously found at Imo’s Pizza. This style represents one of the most polarizing pizza experiences in America – people either absolutely love it or can’t understand how anyone could call it pizza.

The ultra-thin crust is so crispy it’s practically a cracker, and the Provel cheese (a processed blend of cheddar, Swiss, and provolone) melts into a distinctive gooey layer that’s unlike any other cheese experience in the pizza world. The concept came to be courtesy of Amedeo Fiore, a retired singer who opened an Italian restaurant in the city with his wife in 1945. His über-thin crusts soon started racking up attention, with the pizza style eventually becoming so popular that it set a new city-wide precedent.

Neapolitan-Style: The Italian Purist’s Dream

For starters, we found that Neapolitan-ish pizzas – the thin-crust pies that are fired in minutes in blast furnace-like ovens – have risen to become the second-choice style across most of the country. This represents a fascinating shift toward authenticity in American pizza preferences, as more consumers discover what pizza was supposed to taste like in its original Neapolitan form.

The progenitor pizza, this style originated in Naples in the late 18th century. An invention of the city’s poorer residents, the dish features fresh, simple, inexpensive and readily available ingredients such as basic dough and raw tomatoes. Typically, pies are made with more sauce than cheese, leaving the center somewhat soggy, and necessitating a relatively small (10 to 12 inches) size. The beauty of Neapolitan pizza lies in its simplicity and the quality of its few ingredients, cooked at extremely high temperatures that create the characteristic leopard-spotted crust that pizza purists consider the holy grail of pizza-making.

Pizza preferences in America reveal fascinating patterns about regional identity, cultural heritage, and evolving tastes. While New York-style continues to dominate nationally, the rise of Detroit-style shows that Americans are always ready to embrace innovation when it tastes this good. From the coal-fired traditions of New Haven to the oil-soaked comfort of Greek-style pies, each regional variety tells a story about the immigrants, innovators, and communities that shaped American pizza culture. What started as a simple Italian flatbread has become a canvas for regional creativity that reflects the diverse tapestry of American food culture itself.