Are cancer diagnoses rising?

For the poll, Gallup surveyed 40,915 U.S. adults at different points in 2024 and 2025. In total, 23,969 participants were surveyed in 2024, and 16,946 were surveyed during the first three quarters of 2025. Gallup's cancer prevalence rates are shown as two-year averages.

Overall, 9.7% of U.S. adults reported ever receiving a cancer diagnosis in 2024-2025 — a significant increase from the 7% who said the same in 2008-2009. Over the last decade, the cancer prevalence rate has increased at a greater pace than before. 

According to Gallup, a growing aging population, as well as people living longer after being diagnosed with cancer, have likely contributed to the increase in the number of Americans who have ever been diagnosed with cancer.

Adults ages 65 and older have the highest rates of lifetime cancer diagnoses at 21.5%, an increase of 3.4 percentage points since 2008-2009. Adults ages 45 to 64 have also seen an increase in lifetime cancer diagnoses, reaching 8.9% in 2024-2025 compared to 7.4% from 2008-2009. Among adults under 45, lifetime cancer diagnoses have largely remained the same.

Men now have a higher rate of lifetime cancer diagnoses than women (9.8% vs 9.6%, respectively). Between 2008-2009 and 2024-2025, lifetime cancer diagnoses increased by 3.6 percentage points for men but only 1.7 percentage points for women.

Commentary

According to Gallup, "the cancer story in the U.S. is mixed with both good news and bad news."

Although cancer mortality is decreasing and people are now living longer after being diagnosed, an aging population and more people living post-removal or post-remission will also challenge the U.S. healthcare system.

"Even after being clinically cancer-free, survivors typically remain under structured medical surveillance for years — and sometimes indefinitely — depending on the cancer type, stage and treatment history," Gallup writes. "The result is that even as millions of Americans are no longer acutely ill, they remain medically engaged, seeing oncologists or other specialists, undergoing scans, managing late effects, and living with ongoing health anxiety."

Health experts have also expressed concerns about recent cuts and disruptions to scientific research over the last year, saying that it could derail current progress.

For example, Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, praised advancements in research that have helped prevent lung cancer and increased its survival rates, but said cuts to the U.S. public health system could have significant negative impacts.

"CDC is critical in helping to prevent lung cancer by funding programs to prevent tobacco use and help people quit, and the research done at NIH has led to 73 new treatments for lung cancer in the last decade alone," Wimmer said. "The cuts to programs and research are devastating."