10 Best Pizza Slices in the United States

With apologies to all the NYC pizzerias hawking slices for less than $3 each, that cheesy and cheap goodness has been dethroned by this pizzeria (in Brooklyn and the West Village, which debuted in 2023) in a 2025 ranking by Best Pizza Awards, coming in at #34. There’s nearly always a line out the door, and for good reason. Pistoia, Italy-born chef-owner Massimo Laveglia’s masterpieces feature the classics—pepperoni and Margherita—but also bump up against specialties where the toppings are burrata, bacon and fig jam, pesto and spicy salami. Only four other U.S. pizzerias rank higher on the list, including Una Pizza Napoletana in New York City, at #17, the highest among the American crop and open since 2022.

As anyone from Connecticut will declare, there is a definite style for New Haven pizza, meaning the pie is prepared Neapolitan style, baked in a coal-fired oven, more generous with its tomato sauce than with cheese, and also sports a thin crust. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana rolled out the first such example in 1925. One key ingredient is the lack of mozzarella cheese. Instead, it’s topped with grated pecorino romano. This pizzeria also invented the clam pie, with fresh littleneck clams floating on top of the crust, for a salty flavor. Need your fix but not so close to the Constitution State? Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana has 18 delicious locations across Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Maryland, and South Florida (Plantation and Delray Beach).

In a city where deep-dish pizza rules, you can still find a greater variety, including at this River West joint, which Food Network recently deemed among the 50 best slices of pizza to try in the U.S., calling it the best in Illinois. Choose from thin, deep dish, or stuffed crusts. The menu’s “gourmet pizzas” opt for heavier meat than your typical sausage crumbles or thinly sliced pepperoni, more like hot beef, BBQ chicken, buffalo chicken (with blue-cheese drizzle) and applewood-smoked bacon, and there are also two meatless ones (Caprese Pizza and Garden Pie) as well as options to build-your-own dream pie, even if it’s vegan.

Not every pizzeria can say it has a James Beard Award-winning chef, but this one sure can, thanks to co-owner Nancy Silverton, who opened its doors in 2006, along with celebrity chefs Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich. Speaking of celebs, keep your eyes peeled as you bite into this Cali-style pizza (airy crust and fresh, unique toppings), as notables like Steven Spielberg and Michelle Obama have been spotted here. Signature pies include the pricey caviar pizzette, as well as creamed spinach and leek, honeynut squash, a pizza folding in jalapenos and pineapples, and mushrooms paired with taleggio and fontina cheeses.

With two locations in Phoenix and another in L.A., this pizza empire from Chris Bianco—a James Beard Award-winning chef—dates back to 1988. Need proof these farm-to-table pizzas, and Bianco’s palate, are fantastic? Not only was Pizzeria Bianco featured on the 2022 season of Chef’s Table on Netflix, Bianco co-developed a line of organic, vine-ripened canned tomatoes called Bianco DiNapoli Tomatoes; and co-authored a cookbook. Just six pizzas on the menu, each one a traditional recipe, and with artisanal toppings, such as wood-roasted onions, house-smoked mozzarella, soppressata, and Arizona-harvested pistachios.

It’s rare to find a pizzeria that dabbles in more than one style, which is what makes this one, with two locations, so special. You can enjoy both Detroit and New York style pizza under one roof, under the tutelage of Italy-born pizzamaker Giulio Adriani. No matter what you choose, the toppings are thoughtfully procured, with California tomato sauce as the base for New York style, plus signature pies like mushrooms drizzled with truffle oil, or roasted pineapple paired with bacon and jalapeno. For classic Detroit style, hot honey mingles with pepperoni, mozzarella, and provolone.

In prepping to open their pizza joint in 2023, best buds Miles Palliser and Ezra Berman trekked to New York City to sample 44 slices within four days from pizzerias, hell-bent on developing a pizza-themed love letter to the Big Apple even from nearly 3,000 miles away in California. This devotion led to it being named the seventh-best pizzeria in the world by 50 Top Pizza last year. Choose from either a slice or the only size pie available (20 inches), as either a signature recipe (such as Mushroom with lemon cream, mushrooms, mozzarella, spinach and garlic; or Burrata, which folds in hot honey and basil with burrata, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses) or DIY your own from a menu of toppings. There are also two vegan options, so dairy-free eaters can enjoy a slice.

In a city more celebrated for buffets than pizza, there’s Pizza Rock, owned by Tony Gemignani, a repeat winner of awards, including—in 2007—World Champion Pizza Maker at that year’s World Pizza Cup in Naples, Italy, the first American to earn that title. You can order his actual award-winning pizza (Margherita) prepared Neapolitan style—but only 73 are made per day. What sets Pizza Rock apart is they don’t specialize in one pizza style: there’s “New “Sicilian style” (focaccia crust baked in a 500-degree gas brick oven), “Detroit style” (cooked in a blue steel pan), “classic American” (cooked in a 550-degree gas brick oven), “classic Italian (prepared in a 550-degree, gas brick oven), “romana” (long, thin pizza that comes out of a 700-degree electric oven), and “California style” (these pies are baked in a 900-degree wood-fired oven), in addition to two regional specialties (“Chicago cracker thin” and “New York New Haven style”). Vegan options mean no one gets left out.