In what Philadelphia neighborhood will a pizza pie cost you the most dough? How about the least?
The answers might surprise you.
A recent study released by NPR’s Planet Money takes a look at the price of pizza in more than 200 neighborhoods in five major cities including nearly 60 Philadelphia neighborhoods from South Philly to the Great Northeast.
Philly’s Graduate Hospital neighborhood where a plain cheese pizza costs nearly $15 came out on top – that’s nearly one dollar more than a pizza pie costs in Cheltenham -- the second most expensive neighborhood. Center City ($13), Chinatown ($13) and Rittenhouse Square ($12.75) round out the Top 5.
Two factors could have played into the cost of pizza in the Graduate Hospital area. First of all, the neighborhood has no chain pizza places, which traditionally offer deep discounts. And then there is the hefty price of Lazaro’s $18 Jumbo 26-inch pie, which drives up the average price in a neighborhood that has fewer than five pizza joints.
NPR’s Quoctrung Bui points out that even though bigger pizza costs more it’s actually a far better value – a 16-inch pizza is equal in size to four 8-inch pizzas. That makes it easier to defend the So just imagine the value of a 26-inch pizza.
On the other end of the pizza price index is Southwest Philly's Elmwood neighborhood where a pizza costs about $7.50. Oak Lane came in second-cheapest with just slightly more expensive pizza.
The study used data supplied by Grubhub Seamless to find the median price of all cheese pizzas. The report doesn’t take into account the size of a pizza but does reveal the general number of pizza places that helped make up the neighborhood’s median pizza price.
Philly’s Roxborough/Manayunk neighborhood joined South Philly and North Philly/Oak Lane as neighborhoods with the most pizza places. Fairmount, Torresdale, Olney, Fishtown, Southwark and Old City is where you will find the fewest choices for pie.
And for anyone outraged at the cost of pizza in Philly, just be glad you don’t live in Midtown Manhattan where a pizza costs $23.
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Photo Credit: NBC10 - Dan Stamm