To come up with the best pizzas in America, we research the newest, best places, then build a survey of great pizzas from around the country — nearly 1,000 pizzas in total were considered in 2019.

We start by defining the perfect pie. What are the essentials? Considering the varied pizza styles (Neapolitan, Sicilian, New York, Connecticut, California, Detroit, St. Louis, bar pie, deep-dish, grandma… we’ll stop ourselves there), that’s a loaded question. Suffice it to say, no matter your pizza denomination, we believe the following qualities are essential: a nuanced sauce, neither too sweet nor too salty (assuming that the pie has sauce); quality, well-distributed cheese (assuming that it has cheese); quality, sensibly combined toppings; a flavorful, savory crust; and, perhaps most importantly, a judicious, well-balanced and pleasing ratio of sauce, cheese, toppings and crust that maintains a structural integrity no matter the style.

We then called upon a blue-chip, geographically diverse list of pizza panelists — chefs, restaurant critics, bloggers, writers and other pizza authorities — asking them to take our survey and vote only for places where they’ve actually eaten.

All told, 30 states are included in our ranking, as well as Washington, D.C., with entrants popping up in locales as unexpected as Hot Springs, Arkansas; Bloomington, Indiana; Anchorage, Alaska; and Addison, Texas. The states with the most entrants on our list are New York (28), Illinois (9), California (7), Connecticut (6) Pennsylvania (6) and New Jersey (6), but Texas, Michigan and Massachusetts all had good showings as well. The ranking proves that there’s good pizza to be found all across the country, and it’s only getting better.