While lobster rolls, Boston Baked Beans, and Boston Crème Pie usually take centerstage as notable noshes for our city, there’s another dish that’s drawing attention from diners in Boston.
According to research done by Clever Real Estate, some might be surprised that Boston is the third-best pizza city in America, with a near perfect overall pizza score of 99 out of 100.
To decide who made the grade for this cheezy award, the data team at Clever Real Estate analyzed a multitude of metrics, including pizza “reputation” gained from a survey of 1,000 Americans, average Yelp rating for pizza restaurants, average pizza prices, and more. Boston lost out to Denver and Buffalo, N.Y., which are in spots one and two respectively.
With 12.3 pizza restaurants per 100,000 residents (a far cry from the lowest on the list – Dallas which has the fewest pizza restaurants, with just 2.7), Boston is poised with options for great pies. According to the data, we have 46 percent more than the typical city's rate of 8.4 per 100,000 residents. These spots deliver (pun intended), boasting an average Yelp rating of 3.81 out of 5 stars. And Boston is willing to pay - A large cheese pizza in Boston costs $19.65 on average, while a large pepperoni pizza averages $23.05.
Boston also scored an 88 out of 100 in the pizza passion metric, based on how often locals search the web for pizza-related terms (e.g., "pizza near me," "pizza delivery," "pan pizza," etc.). That's 22 percent higher than the average city's score of 72.
Using Google Trends data, the team also examined which cities most often search the internet for certain varieties of pizza. Specifically, Boston ranks No. 1 in online search interest for flatbreads, No. 2 for search interest in Greek pizza, and No. 3 for Neapolitan.
To grab your own slice of heaven, try out the best pizza spots in Boston.