Subscribe!
We Cook! The Tiniest State has the Biggest Pizza Appetite for the World Cup (of course!)
(Pizza Recipe by chef Anthony Salemme at bottom of page)
The World Cup comes to America this summer. And when the matches kick off, no state in the country is more likely to reach for a pizza box than Rhode Island – so says The Vegas Insider.
Top 10 states by game-day pizza demand (2025 average, out of 100)
1. Rhode Island — 75 game day, 85 next day
2. Delaware — 75 game day, 82 next day
3. Ohio — 67 game day, 70 next day
4. South Dakota — 67 game day
5. Pennsylvania — 66 game day, 75 next day
6. South Carolina — 64 game day, 66 next day
7. Michigan — 63 game day, 73 next day
8. New Hampshire — 63 game day, 69 next day
9. Florida — 59 game day, 65 next day
10. West Virginia — 59 game day, 71 next day
New research from Vegas Insider tracked Google search interest for pizza delivery across eight major soccer events in 2025, from the Champions League Final to the NWSL Championship, to predict which states will lead delivery demand when the tournament arrives. Rhode Island ranked first in the entire country.
Rhode Island has always done pizza differently. The strip, the party cut, the long flat box that feeds a room rather than a plate. It is communal food for communal occasions, and soccer is exactly that kind of occasion. Federal Hill did not need the World Cup to make pizza a match day ritual. It has been one for generations.
The data bears it out. Rhode Island topped the game-day rankings across every tracked event in 2025. Then it topped the next-day rankings too. Its post-match score of 85 is the highest in the entire country. In Providence, the occasion does not end at the final whistle.
New York averaged 39. California averaged 31. The strip pizza capital of America outscored them both by more than double.
“This is a state with pizza in its DNA,” said a Vegas Insider data analyst. “The Italian-American community, the strip tradition, the way delivery culture is woven into how people socialise here. The World Cup is the perfect occasion for it and Rhode Island was built for exactly this.”
Methodology: Vegas Insider analysed Google Trends search interest for “pizza near me” across all 50 US states and Washington DC, tracking eight major soccer events in 2025 as proxies for World Cup viewing behaviour. Scores run from 0 to 100. Data was extracted in Q1 2026 and commissioned by Vegas Insider.
About Vegas Insider: Vegas Insider is a leading sports betting and data resource covering odds, analysis, and trends across major sporting events. The 2026 World Cup is the largest soccer tournament ever held on US soil. Full study at vegasinsider.com/world-cup/states-that-order-most-pizza-world-cup-2026/
___
Here you go! More than pizza – put shrimp on, or not!