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Short answer: “U.S. cancer statistics” usually means one of three different products. CDC’s United States Cancer Statistics (USCS) are the official federal statistics on cancer: observed counts and rates drawn from registry data. NCI’s SEER Cancer Stat Facts give age-adjusted rates and survival. The American Cancer Society’s annual report gives projected case and death numbers for the current year. Each answers a different question, so cite the product and the data year, not just the number.
Definition and scope
CDC describes the United States Cancer Statistics as “the official federal statistics on cancer,” covering cancer cases and deaths for the United States and Puerto Rico. The incidence data combine the CDC National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) with the National Cancer Institute’s SEER program, while the mortality data come from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. The public use database holds incidence and population data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2001, and CDC publishes a data visualization tool for the same data. CDC lists researchers, clinicians, policymakers and public health professionals among its users.
How the numbers are produced
Registries report newly diagnosed cancers, and the national figures are assembled from them. CDC’s technical notes state that registries meeting its data quality criteria cover 100% of the U.S. population for 2023 diagnoses and 98.8% for 1999-2023 diagnoses combined. 2023 is the latest incidence year in the current release, with death data through 2024; CDC reports 1,941,540 invasive cancers diagnosed in 2023. For how registries themselves work, see our guide to the cancer registry.
Two scope rules matter when you reuse the counts. USCS incidence counts only invasive cancers, so it excludes in situ cancers, benign and borderline brain and central nervous system tumors, and basal and squamous cell skin cancers. USCS also suppresses counts and rates below 16.
The main U.S. cancer statistics sources compared
| Question you are asking | CDC USCS | NCI SEER Cancer Stat Facts | ACS Cancer Facts & Figures 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| What does it report? | Observed cases and deaths from registry and NCHS mortality data | Rates, survival, lifetime risk and prevalence | Estimated 2026 new cases and deaths by site and state |
| Observed or projected? | Observed; latest incidence year 2023 | Observed rates; the 2026 case and death counts shown are ACS projections | Projected for 2026 |
| Coverage | Registries meeting quality criteria covered 100% of the U.S. population for 2023 | Survival uses SEER 21 registries (excluding Illinois) | Companion to the journal article “Cancer statistics, 2026” |
Headline figures from the SEER all-sites page, read November 2026: an estimated 2,114,850 new cases and 626,140 deaths for 2026 (ACS projections); an age-adjusted incidence rate of 450.7 per 100,000 (2019-2023 cases); an age-adjusted death rate of 143.2 per 100,000 (2020-2024 deaths); 70.5% five-year relative survival (2016-2022); a lifetime risk of about 39.2% (2021-2023); and about 18.6 million people estimated to be living with a history of cancer in 2023. SEER reports a median age at diagnosis of 67 and at death of 73, incidence stable over 2014-2023, and a death rate falling about 1.5% a year over 2015-2024.
Where it matters for labs, grants and reporting
Grant narratives, ethics submissions and protocols often open with a burden statement. A defensible one names the product, the metric and the data year. Compare the projected 2026 figure of 2,114,850 new cases with CDC’s observed 1,941,540 invasive cases in 2023: they describe different years and one is a projection, so they are not interchangeable and should not be quoted as a trend. The same applies to survival: SEER’s 70.5% covers 2016-2022 diagnoses, while the ACS report describes about 70% for 2015-2021, a different cohort.
Checklist before you quote a cancer statistic
- Name the source product (USCS, SEER or ACS) and its release year.
- State whether the number is observed or projected.
- Separate counts from rates; rates are age-adjusted, counts are not.
- Distinguish diagnosis year (incidence) from death year (mortality).
- Note that USCS counts invasive cancers only.
- Say “relative survival” when quoting five-year survival, with its diagnosis years.
- Do not report a cell below 16 from USCS; it is suppressed.
To compute your own rates from counts and population, see how to calculate an incidence rate. For cause-of-death data, see CDC WONDER underlying cause of death.
Common misunderstandings
- “Projected cases are the number of cases that happened.” The ACS and SEER 2026 counts are estimates; observed USCS counts are for earlier diagnosis years.
- “All skin cancer is in the total.” USCS excludes basal and squamous cell skin cancers.
- “A falling death rate means fewer deaths.” The SEER death rate is age-adjusted per 100,000 people; it can fall while counts move differently.
- “Survival is the chance of dying of cancer.” Five-year relative survival compares people with cancer to the general population of the same age; it is not an individual prognosis.
This page is general information about public statistics, not medical advice.
Frequently asked questions
What are the United States Cancer Statistics?
They are CDC’s official federal cancer statistics, combining NPCR and SEER registry incidence data with NCHS mortality data for the United States and Puerto Rico.
Are the 2026 case numbers projected or observed?
Projected. The 2,114,850 new cases and 626,140 deaths shown for 2026 are American Cancer Society estimates. The latest observed incidence year in USCS is 2023.
Which source should a grant application cite?
Whichever matches the claim: USCS for observed counts and national coverage, SEER Stat Facts for rates and survival, ACS for the current-year estimate. State the data year each time.
Sources
- CDC, United States Cancer Statistics: About, read 2026-11-11.
- CDC, USCS Technical Notes, read 2026-11-11.
- NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts: Cancer of Any Site, read 2026-11-11.
- American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures 2026, read 2026-11-11; Siegel RL et al., Cancer statistics, 2026, CA Cancer J Clin 2026;76(1):e70043, doi 10.3322/caac.70043.
