1 Of The Nation's 'Best Cities For Pizza' Is In South Jersey, New List Says

CAMDEN, NJ — Any way you slice it, New Jersey pizzerias can hold their own. But one South Jersey community was recently named as one of the nation's best cities for pizza.

Pizzello.com, a company selling outdoor pizza ovens and fire pit tables, compiled a list of "The 250 Best Cities in America for Pizza." The study "wasn't just a frivolous foray into flatbreads," Pizzello noted. The company analyzed average Google reviews from the 500 most-populous towns and also surveyed 1,000 people.

South Jersey has some representation on the list, with Camden ranking No. 175. When it comes to pizza, the city received a score of 4.45 out of 5.

Here are some of Camden's top-rated pizzerias:

• A Little Slice of New York (120 N 3rd St.): 4.5 stars out of 5 on Google, with 194 reviews as of this writing.
• Guido's Pizza (513 Market St.): 4.2 stars from 127 reviews.
• Market Street Pizzeria & Italian Bistro (1 Market St.): 4.2 stars from 329 reviews.
• Yaya's Pizza (1322 Mt Ephraim Ave.): 4.9 stars from 23 reviews.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, New York City topped the list with an average Google rating of 4.68. The legacy of pizza across the five boroughs "cannot be ignored," Pizzello wrote. The city's history of pizza-making "is evident in the generations of family-owned pizzerias that dot the cityscape, each with its own story and a secret recipe that's a slice of New York's history."

Coincidentally, Philadelphia clocked the same rating as Camden.

The following New Jersey cities also made the cut:

• No. 58: Newark (4.5)
• No. 68: Elizabeth (4.5)
• No. 122: Jersey City (4.46)
• No. 212: Clifton (4.44)
• No. 240: Paterson (4.43)

For the list, Pizzello conducted a survey of 1,000 pizza fanatics to get a taste of their least favorite toppings, and their pizzeria preferences. Curious about what the survey found?

First, the average pizza enthusiast is willing to travel for up to 26 minutes to take a bite of their absolute favorite pie. And, just over half of respondents (52 percent) had a preference for independent pizzerias over large chains. But when it comes right down to it, 40 percent of people said that what they make at home could surpass any pizza they purchased at a restaurant.

When it comes to divisive types of pizza, Hawaiian pizza had 26 percent of respondents turning up their noses at the combo of ham and pineapple. Following in second place for least favorites was pizza bianca, or white pizza — with 22 percent of respondents deeming it unfit for eating.

See the full study here.