General Cancer Awareness

In 2018, an estimated 1,735,350 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States.

• The most common cancers (listed in descending order according to estimated new cases in 2018) are breast cancer, lung and bronchus cancer, prostate cancer, colon and rectum cancer, melanoma of the skin, bladder cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, kidney and renal pelvis cancer, endometrial cancer, leukemia, pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, and liver cancer.


• The number of new cases of cancer (cancer incidence) is 439.2 per 100,000 men and women per year (based on 2011 – 2015 cases).


• Approximately 38.4% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes (based on 2013 – 2015 data).


• In 2017, an estimated 15,270 children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 were diagnosed with cancer.


• Estimated national expenditures for cancer care in the United States in 2017 were $147.3 billion. In future years, costs are likely to increase as the population ages and cancer prevalence increases. Costs are also likely to increase as new, and often more expensive, treatments are adopted as standards of care.