Cancer survival rates continue to grow

For the report, researchers analyzed data from the National Cancer Institute, CDC, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, and the National Center for Health Statistics to determine new cancer diagnoses, survival, and mortality rates in the United States.

For 2026, researchers projected that there will be approximately 2,114,850 new cancer diagnoses and 626,140 deaths from cancer. Although most cancer diagnoses are still among people ages 65 and older (60%), a growing number of younger adults are being diagnosed with cancer (28% in people ages 50 to 64 and 12% in people younger than 50).

The lifetime probability of being diagnosed with an invasive cancer is 39.2% for men and 38.7% for women. For men, the most common cancers diagnoses are prostate, lung and bronchus, and colon and rectum. For women, the most common types of cancers diagnoses are breast, lung and bronchus, and colon and rectum.

Between 1975 and 2021, the five-year relative survival rate for all cancers increased from 49% to 70% — the highest survival rate ever recorded. Survival rates were highest for thyroid (98%), prostate (98%), testis (95%), and melanoma cancers (95%) and lowest for lung (28%), liver (22%), esophagus (22%), and pancreas (13%).

However, even cancers with low survival rates have seen significant progress. For example, the five-year relative survival rate for people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer increased three-fold from the mid-1990s to 2015–2021, going from 4% to 13%. Survival rates for metastatic lung cancer also increased from 2% to 10%.

Dahut also highlighted the impact of new cancer treatments, like small molecule targeted therapies and immunotherapies. "[T]he impact on metastatic cancer, really the doubling of our overall survival at five years of metastatic cancer, is really driven by new therapies," he said.

Cancer mortality rates have also improved over the last few decades. Between 1991 and 2023, cancer mortality rates declined by 34%, preventing an estimated 4.8 million deaths from cancer. The number of averted deaths was twice as large for men compared to women (3.2 million vs. 1.5 million, respectively) since the death rate in men peaked higher and declined more quickly.  

However, even with these improvements in cancer survival and mortality, significant racial disparities persist. Currently, cancer survival rates are lower among Black people compared to white people, and Native American people have the highest cancer mortality rates among all racial/ethnic groups.

Commentary

According to Sharon Giordano, chair of breast medical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, "the findings in this report are highly encouraging and demonstrate that meaningful progress has been made in the fight against cancer."

Separately, Rebecca Siegel, senior scientific director of surveillance research at ASC and the report's lead author, applauded the improvement in cancer survival rates over the last few decades. "This stunning victory is largely the result of decades of cancer research that provided clinicians with the tools to treat the disease more effectively, turning many cancers from a death sentence into a chronic disease," she said.

Although improved survival rates should inspire hope in people, Dahut also emphasized a need to improve care for the growing number of cancer survivors. In January 2025, there were over 18.6 million cancer survivors in the United States, and the number is expected to exceed 22 million by 2035.

"In our current medical system, we don't really have a great model for who's best to follow cancer survivors," Dahut said. "… Having more and more survivors is great. But I think we're going to have to come up with strategies in order to ensure that they're cared for in a way that's consistent across the country."

Recent cuts to cancer research from the Trump administration, which could limit future progress against cancer, also concern health experts. According to an analysis from Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, there was a 31% decline in cancer research grant funding in the first three months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.

"It's very concerning. When you see, in the course of the last year with threatened funding for research and cancer research, that innovation can be greatly affected unfavorably by that," said Tom Purcell, the chief medical officer of a cancer research institute in Seattle. "When I look at that, I continue to believe that we have to invest in cancer research in a way that will provide innovative trials and research in the lab and into the clinic."

Advisory Board's oncology resources

For more insights on oncology, check out these Advisory Board resources.

Growth in demand and costs, as well as new technologies and disruptors, will change how cancer care is delivered, experienced, and paid for going forward. This resource outlines four predictions for how the cancer care delivery landscape will evolve by 2030.

Separately, this expert insight explains three strategies organizations can use to leverage oncology pharmacists and improve cancer care. Similarly, these ready-to-use slides outline the major structural shifts impacting cancer care, as well as the strategic decisions that oncology leaders will need to make.

You can search through our oncology topics to see more related resources, including service line outlooks, case studies, and more.