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These states eat the most pizza in America—and it’s not NY

Plus, here's how each state prefers their pizza

Erika Mailman
Written by
Erika Mailman
San Francisco and USA contributor
Image of Neapolitan style margherita pizza
Photograph: Shutterstock
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Pizza is a lot of people’s “go to” dinner when you’ve had a long day and you just want something easy to eat that you know you’ll love. It’s a delicious mixture of cheese, tomato sauce and dough, and a huge part of its appeal is just lifting it up in your hands to take that first incisive bite of the triangle at the tip. Screw that chia seed slurry; this is a real meal! And a recent Harris Poll confirms that 21 percent of Americans count pizza as their favorite food, according to MSN. Another survey, by Talker Research, revealed that one in seven Americans has been eating the same pizza, ordered the same way each time (because, why mess with perfection?) for more than five years. But 57 percent of us are willing to try a new pizza combination but just don’t know how to make that happen. Could it be by...adding spice?

Not going to do that, say Michigan and South Carolina; they’re the states least likely to spice up their pizza, while New Mexico and Hawai’i residents are enthusiastically sprinkling that red pepper and hot sauce over their circular landscape.

Loyal to your usual array of topics? That is the stance of Hoosiers and Vermonters, who are most likely to stick with the same pizza toppings each time.

Who eats the most pizza per month? You might think it would be New Yorkers wandering around Manhattan with a hand-held or Chicagoans sitting down with a deep dish pie, but it’s Iowans, North Dakotans and Alaskans.

Who hosts the most pizza nights? The folks who know how to party, the Louisianans, followed by Connecticut and Iowa residents.

Who loves pepperoni most? Apparently, every state that begins with the letter C or the letter W.

What is a startling finding? Massachusetts is the only state on the list that prefers veggie pizza to a meat-based one.

Here’s the most popular pizza by state:

Alabama - Supreme

Alaska - Pepperoni

Arizona - Meat lover's

Arkansas - Supreme

California - Pepperoni

Colorado - Pepperoni

Connecticut - Pepperoni

Delaware - Pepperoni

Florida - Pepperoni

Georgia - Supreme

Hawaii - Supreme

Idaho - Meat lover's

Illinois - Meat lover's

Indiana - Supreme

Iowa - Supreme and Meat lover’s

Kansas - Supreme

Kentucky - Meat lover’s

Louisiana - Meat lover’s

Maine - Meat lover’s

Maryland - Pepperoni

Massachusetts - Veggie

Michigan - Meat lover’s

Minnesota - Pepperoni

Mississippi - Meat lover’s

Missouri - Meat lover’s

Montana – Supreme

Nebraska - Meat lover’s

Nevada - Meat lover’s

New Hampshire – Pepperoni

New Jersey – Pepperoni

New Mexico - Pepperoni

New York - Pepperoni

North Carolina - Meat lover’s

North Dakota - Supreme and Pepperoni

Ohio - Pepperoni

Oklahoma - Supreme

Oregon - Meat lover’s

Pennsylvania - Pepperoni

Rhode Island - Pepperoni

South Carolina - Pepperoni

South Dakota - Supreme and Pepperoni

Tennessee - Pepperoni

Texas - Pepperoni 

Utah - Meat lover’s

Vermont - Pepperoni

Virginia – Pepperoni

Washington - Meat lover’s

West Virginia - Meat lover’s

Wisconsin - Meat lover’s

Wyoming - Meat lover’s

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