[title]
It's official: the price of just about anything has gone up—including a good ol' plain slice of pizza... and New Yorker Liam Quigley has the data to prove it.
Starting back in 2014, Quigley, a reporter, took note of the price of every slice of pizza he ate around town and documented his findings on his Instagram account, NYC Slice. Fast-forward eight years and, at the end of 2022, he inputted all of the prices in a graph to figure out whether the average cost of the food had followed any sort of predictable pattern.
The results are in: according to Quigley's analysis, the average price of a plain slice in NYC increased from $2.52 in 2014 to $3 by the end of 2022, a 16% rise.
As noted by the reporter himself on his website, the calculation excludes dollar slices and does not function as any sort of ranking by deliciousness. However, "the biggest thing I have noticed is the decline in the amount of sauce put on slices," remarks Quigley. "I'm sure this is a cost-saving measure but the overall quality of your average slice in the city has definitely suffered."
As you can see, the average slice of a price finally reached $3.00 by the end of 2022. pic.twitter.com/c1eyxQcXR7
— Liam Quigley (@_elkue) January 10, 2023
The reporter also shares which of the over 450 slices he tried were his favorites—in no particular order:
- Margherita Pizza, 163-04 Jamaica Avenue in Queens, $3.75 (up from $3.00 in 2014)
- Ozone Pizzeria, 9615 Liberty Avenue in Queens, $3.00
- Ciro Pizza Cafe, 862 Huguenot Avenue in Staten Island, $2.50
- Pizza D’Amore, 208 Beach 116th Street in Queens, $2.50
- Sam’s Pizza, 232 West 231st Street in the Bronx, $3.00
- PG Pizza, 904 Morris Avenue in the Bronx, $2.75
- Joe’s Pizza, 7 Carmine Street in Manhattan, $4.00 (up from $2.75 in 2014)
- Bleecker Street Pizza, 69 7th Avenue South in Manhattan, $3.64 (up from $2.75 in 2014)
- Pizza Place, 4024 White Plains Road in the Bronx, $3.25
- Big John’s Pizza, 219-11 Jamaica Avenue in Queens, $2.75
- Mario’s Pizzeria, 224 DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn, $3.00
- Sunnyside Pizza, 4001 Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside, $3.50 (up from $2.50 in 2014)
- New Park Pizza, 156-71 Cross Bay Boulevard in Queens, $3.25 (up from $2.75 in 2014)
And just in case you were wondering, Quigley reports that, to complete his project, he shelled out a total of $955.09 on plain slices in eight years. Money well spent, if you ask us.