What a slice costs

How much does a slice of pizza cost in NYC in 2026?

About $3.81 for a plain cheese slice at the median shop, according to Gothamist's December 2025 survey, which described the typical price as approaching $4.

Gothamist has tracked slice prices for about a decade, and its late-2025 numbers come from visits to dozens of shops. Two examples from that piece: Tommy's Pizza in Throgs Neck, in the Bronx, charged $3.50, up from $3 in 2023, and Joe's in the Village charged $4, up from $2.75 in 2014. Back in 2014, with a $2.50 fare, the average slice was about $2.54.

That is for a plain slice. A topping, a square or a specialty slice costs more, and a Park Slope owner told Gothamist that some places now ask $5.

Does NYC still have $1 pizza?

Not as an everyday thing. 2 Bros., the best-known dollar-slice chain, had moved every location to $1.50 by March 2023, and a Seamless promotion brought $1 slices back only briefly in April 2025.

The dollar slice was a New York institution for about two decades. Wikipedia's entry on it dates the first dollar-slice shop, 99 Cent Fresh Pizza, to 2001. Cheese, flour and rent did the rest. In March 2023 the original 2 Bros. on St. Mark's Place stopped selling $1 slices too.

Shops at $1.50 still exist, and they are still among the cheapest hot meals in the city. Just don't build an itinerary around a dollar. The Williamsburg crawl even says it on the listing: there won't be any dollar slices on that tour, only four gourmet styles.

What is the Pizza Principle?

The observation, first reported in The New York Times in 1980, that the price of a slice had matched the subway fare since the early 1960s. With a $3.81 slice and a $3.00 ride, it no longer holds.

A New Yorker named Eric M. Bram noticed it, and for decades it worked as a forecast: when the slice went up, the fare followed. The statistician Jared Lander tested it in 2014 and found it still held. Then inflation pushed pizza up faster than the MTA moved fares, and by late 2025 Gothamist declared the principle gone.

The fare went from $2.90 to $3.00 on 4 January 2026. MTA chair Janno Lieber told Gothamist: "I don't know what the pizza principle would dictate at this point." Lander's explanation was simpler: the MTA works to keep the fare down, and a pizza shop owner can't. The full story is in our Pizza Principle post.

How much is a whole pizza pie in NYC?

A large cheese pie averaged $28.60 in New York City in Clever Real Estate's 2024 study, the highest of the 50 largest US metros. Lucali in Carroll Gardens charges $32 for its large pie with basil.

Eight slices at the $3.81 median add up to about $30.50, so for three or more people a whole pie usually wins. At the coal-oven places you have no choice anyway: Juliana's, Grimaldi's in Brooklyn and John's of Bleecker St sell whole pies only.

What is the most expensive pizza in NYC?

The one usually quoted is the $2,000 pizza that Industry Kitchen, near South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan, put on its menu in January 2017. No source documents a $2,700 pizza in New York.

The toppings explained the price: 24-karat gold leaf, Ossetra caviar, truffles, foie gras and Stilton, as CBS, Fox News and Viewing NYC reported at the time. Viewing NYC asked the fair question of whether it was still pizza. Treat it as a 2017 headline, not a menu staple.

The figure of $2,700 turns up in search suggestions, but no menu or news report backs it for a New York pizzeria. For a pizza people actually queue for, the top end is closer to Lucali's $32 pie plus a couple of toppings.

Which NYC pizzerias are cash only?

Lucali is the famous one: cash only and BYOB. Juliana's takes cash and all major cards. Keep some small bills on you for slice counters anyway.

• Lucali, 575 Henry St, Carroll Gardens. Cash only, BYOB, no reservations. Open 5 to 11 p.m., closed Tuesday; names go on the waitlist from 4 p.m., and takeout orders by phone or in person start at 4 p.m.
• Juliana's, 19 Old Fulton St, DUMBO. Cash and all major cards; a check splits into at most four payments.
• Grimaldi's, 1 Front St, DUMBO. Waitlist or phone reservations; groups of 25 or more need 72 hours' notice.

Lucali's BYOB rule saves real money: bring a bottle from a shop on the way and the bill is pizza only.

How much does a pizza tour cost per slice?

Roughly $20 a stop on the Brooklyn walks: $79 for four slices in Williamsburg works out to $19.75 each. You are paying for the guide, the stories and the route, not just the pizza.

A slice at the counter costs under $4, so a tour is never the cheap way to eat. It is the way to eat at four shops you would not have found, with someone who knows the owners and why each oven bakes differently.

Four slices from four pizzerias, from a gas-oven classic to a burrata slice. Small group, two local beers with the brews add-on, free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

★ 5.0 · 3 hours · from $79

Explore the Williamsburg pizza crawl → Tour details

How can you eat pizza in NYC on a budget?

Order plain slices at counter shops, share whole pies at the sit-down places, take the subway between them, and go easy on the toppings.

• Plain first. The plain slice is the cheapest thing on any counter and the best test of a shop.
• Share the pie. At Juliana's or Lucali, one large pie between two or three people beats a slice each.
• BYOB where allowed. Lucali lets you bring your own; Juliana's sells wine, beer and cocktails.
• Walk the bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is free and lands you at the DUMBO pizzerias; the guided bridge walk adds the stories from $32.
• Plan around the breaks. A closed coal oven costs you an hour: Juliana's stokes from 3:15 to 4 p.m., Grimaldi's from 4 to 5 p.m.

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