Best Pizza Places In America List Includes Only 2 Illinois Spots

I'm a pizza lover, always have been and always will be. I'm guessing that you feel the same way, or you probably wouldn't be reading this piece to begin with. With less that a week to go before Christmas, nothing would thrill me more than to hear my wife say that we're going to have pizza for our Christmas dinner.

The chances of that are about the same as a family in Italy deciding that they're going with Quarter-Pounders and fries for their family's yuletide meal.

The United States has roughly 75,000 restaurants that serve pizza in some way, shape, or form, so if everyone decided Christmas 2024 was going to be a "pizza Christmas," there would probably be enough pizzas around the country to cover everyone.

But, which pizza places are the best out of those 75,000 spots?

Let's See How Much You Know About Pizza In Illinois With A Multiple-Choice Question

I'm not talking Chicago-style deep dish pizza in particular, it can be any and every type of pizza you can get in Illinois.

Here's the question: How many places in Illinois can you get pizza? (not counting your own home or the stores that have frozen pizza in the freezer section) Is it:

• 1,390
• 2,758
• 3,009
• 5,876
• 12,332

If you instantly guessed 3,009, congratulations! You officially know just a little too much about pizza. Maybe think about a salad next time.

Unsurprisingly, California Leads The Entire Country In Places To Get Pizza, But Illinois Is Among The Top Contenders

According to a piece at RobsLink.com titled "Pizza Stores Per 10,000 People," California's 6,065 places is more than enough to take the number-one position when it comes to pizza outlets. Here's the rest of the top 5:

• New York: 4,961
• Pennsylvania: 4,054
• Florida: 3,723
• Texas: 3,445

Next comes Ohio with 3,433, then Illinois with the 3,009 spots.

The New York Times Recently Released Their Picks For The 22 Best Pizza Places In The United States, And Their Two Illinois Picks Are A Pretty Big Distance Apart

The New York Times piece is a celebration of what they call the "craft pizza renaissance," and they feature pizza joints from all over the country, but I couldn't find two pizza joints in the same state that were any farther apart than the two here in Illinois are.

The first of two Illinois pizza joints is Middle Brow Bungalow, located at 2840 Armitage Avenue in Chicago's Logan Square.

The Only Other Illinois Pizza Joint That Made The NYT List Of The Nation's 22 Best Is Exactly 337.6 Miles South Of Middle Brow Bungalow In Chicago

That five hour and eighteen minute drive will take you to Ava, Illinois, and a place called Scratch Brewing Company, a farmhouse brewing company located about five miles from the Shawnee National Forest. The New York Times piece says “To say this place is worth its own road trip is another understatement.”