Here Is Where The Cheapest Pizza Is…

Where you live now changes what a basic cheese pizza costs by nearly six dollars. That’s the headline from the 2026 U.S. Pizza Index, a new report from Chicago-based lender NetCredit that priced a medium cheese pizza from the nation’s 10 largest chains across 180 American cities. The findings landed in national headlines this week after Fox News picked up the study as summer road-trip season kicks off.

Indiana Is America’s Pizza Bargain. Hawaii Is Not.

The NetCredit study checked Grubhub menu prices (DoorDash for Domino’s) for a medium cheese pizza in the 100 most populous U.S. cities plus the three biggest cities in every state, then averaged the results by state. Pricing data was collected in February 2026.

Indiana came out cheapest at $13.95 on average, followed by Alabama ($14.04), Michigan ($14.32), Kentucky ($14.64) and Kansas ($15.00). At the other end, Hawaii topped the chart at $19.70 — 41.2% more than Indiana — with California ($18.85) and Alaska ($18.60) close behind. Illinois and New York tied at $17.87, and Rhode Island rounded out the expensive list at $17.76.

Hawaii’s premium isn’t a mystery. The state imports the overwhelming majority of its food, and shipping costs work their way into every pie that comes out of an island oven.

Houston Wins the Cities. California Sweeps the Wrong Podium.

Among major cities, Houston claimed the most affordable average at $14.42, with Charlotte, North Carolina ($14.50) and Austin, Texas ($14.64) right behind. Ten cities came in under $15 — and three of them are in Texas, where a crowded field of independent pizzerias keeps the big chains honest on price.

The expensive end of the table belongs almost entirely to California. San Diego posted the highest average in the country at $20.76, followed by San Jose ($20.02) and Los Angeles ($19.84). Five of the six priciest cities in the study are Californian, with Honolulu the lone outsider at number four ($19.70).

Little Caesars Takes the Value Crown

The index also ranked the chains themselves. Little Caesars was the runaway value leader at $10.27 for an average medium cheese — 17% cheaper than second-place Papa Murphy’s ($12.38) and at least 45.9% cheaper than Pizza Hut or Domino’s. The most expensive major chains were Chuck E. Cheese ($20.33), where the pizza effectively subsidizes the arcade, and Godfather’s Pizza ($20.03).

It’s a timely snapshot of an industry under pressure. Chain pizza remains a roughly $30 billion business in the U.S., but a New York Times report cited by the study found customers ordering smaller pizzas with fewer toppings to keep bills down — part of the same belt-tightening that has Pizza Hut’s owner negotiating a sale of the struggling brand.

Why Prices Vary So Much

Three forces drive the gap. Shipping and import costs punish island and remote states like Hawaii and Alaska. High labor and real-estate costs push California’s averages up across the board — NetCredit’s earlier takeout research found Californian takeout running 20% above the national average. And local competition cuts the other way: where independent pizzerias are thick on the ground, as in Houston, the national chains have to price sharper to compete.

NetCredit’s own money-saving advice will sound familiar to anyone who’s done the math on pizza sizes: order bigger. Thanks to the geometry of circles, a 16-inch pizza holds four times the pizza of an 8-inch — which is exactly why one large pie usually beats two smalls on price per slice.

The Bottom Line

America’s pizza bill depends heavily on your ZIP code: $13.95 in Indiana, $19.70 in Hawaii, and a $6+ swing between Houston and San Diego for the identical order. Chains are feeling the squeeze as customers trade down, and Little Caesars’ $10.27 average shows where the value war is headed. But for the price-conscious, the cheapest pizza in every one of those 180 cities is still the one that comes out of your own oven. (The commute’s shorter, too.)