They say there’s no such thing as bad pizza, but what they don’t say—and what you already know—is that bigger is always better in regard to pizza sizes. After all, the larger the pizza, the more slices you can get out of it, and the more you can theoretically share with. So, how many slices of pizza can you get out of a 14-inch pizza?
A 14-inch pizza, which would be classified as large, can be cut into ten slices in total, which should feed between three and five people.
For the remainder of this article, I will go into greater detail about the different pizza sizes, as well as how many people each pizza size can supposedly feed.
Pizza Sizes
Depending on where you buy your pizza, the restaurant may offer up to five pizza sizes—namely, personal, small, medium or regular, large, and extra-large. Again, depending on the pizza chain, the amount of pizza you get based on size may vary, but in general, popular pizza chains use the following sizing standards.
| Pizza Size | Diameter |
| Personal | 6 in. |
| Small | 8 in. |
| Medium/Regular | 10 in. |
| Large | 14 in. |
| Extra-Large | At least 16 in. |
However, some restaurants may make their pizzas within one or two inches in either direction of the listed diameters. For instance, many non-chain restaurants may classify 12-inch pizzas as medium or regular, while they would fall in the large category at other pizzerias.
How Many Slices in a 14-inch Pizza?
Whether you make pizza by hand or have it delivered to your doorstep, you can personalize your pizza to have it cut into however many slices you want. So, theoretically, if a party of 20 people wants to dine on a large 14-inch pizza, you could have it sliced into 20 pieces.
On the other hand, if you wanted to follow a restaurant’s slice count standard based on the size of the pizza, you would most likely get ten slices from a 14-inch pizza, which can supposedly feed three to five people.
The following table will describe how many slices you can typically get out of a pizza and how many mouths it can feed based on its size.
| Pizza Size | Slice Count | Diner Count |
| Personal | 4 | 1 |
| Small | 6 | 1-2 |
| Medium/Regular | 8 | 2-4 |
| Large | 10 | 3-5 |
| Extra-Large | 12 | 4-8 |
Pizza Math: How Much Pizza Will You Get?
Now, let’s have fun with pizza sizes and determine how much pizza you will get. First, let’s take a look at the total volume per pizza size.
Total Volume by Size
To calculate the volume of a pizza, we will assume that it is a right cylinder. Therefore, the formula to get the total volume of a pizza would be V = π × r2 × h, where V is the total volume, r is the radius of the pizza, and h is the height or thickness (one inch).
Therefore, the total volume of a pizza based on pizza size would be:
| Pizza Size | Diameter | Radius | Height | Total Volume |
| Personal | 6 in. | 3 in. | 1 in. | 28.27 cu. in. |
| Small | 8 in. | 4 in. | 1 in. | 50.27 cu. in. |
| Medium/Regular | 10 in. | 5 in. | 1 in. | 78.54 cu. in. |
| Large | 14 in. | 7 in. | 1 in. | 153.94 cu. in. |
| Extra-Large | 16 in. | 8 in. | 1 in. | 201.06 cu. in. |
Volume per Slice
Now that we know how much pizza each pizza size offers, let’s calculate how much pizza each slice contains. We can find out by simply dividing the volume of the pizza by how many slices it has.
Doing so will yield the following results:
| Pizza Size | Total Volume | Slices | Volume per Slice |
| Personal | 28.27 cu. in. | 4 | 7.07 cu. in. |
| Small | 50.27 cu. in. | 6 | 8.38 cu. in. |
| Medium/Regular | 78.54 cu. in. | 8 | 9.82 cu. in. |
| Large | 153.94 cu. in. | 10 | 15.39 cu. in. |
| Extra-Large | 201.06 cu. in. | 12 | 16.76 cu. in. |
Volume per Diner
Finally, let’s calculate how much pizza each diner will get when sharing a pizza by its recommended diner count. To do this, we just need to divide the total volume of the pizza by the minimum and maximum diner count.
| Pizza Size | Total Volume | Diner Count | Volume per Diner |
| Personal | 28.27 cu. in. | 1 | 28.27 cu. in. |
| Small | 50.27 cu. in. | 1-2 | 25.14-50.27 cu. in. |
| Medium/Regular | 78.54 cu. in. | 2-4 | 19.64-39.27 cu. in. |
| Large | 153.94 cu. in. | 3-5 | 30.79-51.31 cu. in. |
| Extra-Large | 201.06 cu. in. | 4-8 | 25.13-50.27 cu. in. |
Based on the results above, sharing a large 14-inch pizza among a group of three people will yield the greatest amount of pizza shared, assuming everyone eats their fair share of the pie. In addition, eating a small 8-inch pizza alone will provide the same amount of pizza per diner as sharing an extra-large 16-inch pizza among four people.
Pizza Cost Efficiency—Is Bigger Always Better?
One math problem that has plagued mankind since the beginning of time was whether or not a large pizza would be more cost-efficient than multiple smaller-sized pizzas.
For our price and cost-efficiency comparison, we are going to follow the listed prices of personal, medium, and large cheese pan pizzas from Real Menu Prices.
- Large (14 inches) — $10.49
- Medium (10 inches) — $8.49
- Personal (6 inches) — $4.29
Based on the total volume of pizza we calculated earlier, we can calculate the approximate cost of a pizza per cubic inch by dividing the cost of the pizza by its total volume.
| Pizza Size | Cost | Total Volume | Cost per Cubic Inch |
| Personal | $4.29 | 28.27 cu. in. | $0.152 |
| Medium/Regular | $8.49 | 78.54 cu. in. | $0.108 |
| Large | $10.49 | 153.94 cu. in. | $0.068 |
As you can see, the cost of a large 14-inch pizza per cubic inch is only about $0.068, which is roughly 45% the cost of a personal pizza and 63% the cost of a medium/regular pizza per cubic inch.
So, to answer the question “Is bigger always better,” yes, it is, at least in terms of pizza cost efficiency. Feel free to use this information for whatever purpose you deem fit.
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