RAND State Statistics recently updated its Cancer All Types database, providing comprehensive cancer incidence data, crude rates, and age-adjusted rates. Crude rates indicate the number of cases reported each calendar year per 100,000 population. Age-adjusted rates are weighted averages of the age-specific (crude) rates, where the weights are the proportions of persons in the corresponding age groups of a standard million population. It includes all cancers reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. See CDC for more details.

From 2017 to 2018, the U.S. experienced a -0.5% decrease in the rate per 100,000 persons of all invasive cancers, dropping from 437.8 cases to 435.8 (see Table 1). States with the highest rate increase for all invasive cancers were Rhode Island (5.2%), Arkansas (3.2%), Florida (2.7%), Utah (2.7%), and Texas (2.3%). States with the most significant rate decreases during this one-year period were Missouri (-4.9%), North Dakota (-4.4%), Massachusetts (-4.3%), Wyoming (-4.3%), and Connecticut (-3.9%) (see Figure 1).

Table 1 - All Invasive Cancer Sites Combined, Age-adjusted Rate Per 100,000 Persons, United States, 2017-201

Figure 1 - All Invasive Cancer Sites Combined, Age-adjusted Rate Per 100,000 Persons, United States, 2017-201

The U.S. also experienced a slight decrease in invasive cancer rates from 2014 to 2018, dropping from 436.6 in 2014 to 435.8 in 2018, a -0.2% decrease overall (see Table 2). States with the highest growth of all invasive cancer rates over this 5-year period were Nebraska (7.7%), Florida (6.8%), Arkansas (6.6%), West Virginia (5.1%), and Montana (4.8%). States with the largest decreases were Delaware (-7.0%), Massachusetts (-6.2%), District of Columbia (-5.6%), New Mexico (-5.3%), and Virginia (-5.2%) (see Figure 2).

Table 2 - All Invasive Cancer Sites Combined, Age-adjusted Rate Per 100,000 Persons, United States, 2014-2018

Figure 2 - All Invasive Cancer Sites Combined, Age-adjusted Rate Per 100,000 Persons, United States, 2014-2018

From 2014 to 2018, prostate cancer rates in the U.S. increased 12.6%, growing from 95.5 per 100,000 in 2014 to 107.5 in 2018.  Female breast cancer rates also increased during this five-year period, rising 2.3% from 123.9 in 2014 to 126.8 in 2018. (See Figure 3).

Figure 3 - Female Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer, Age-adjusted Rate Per 100,000 Persons, United States, 2014-2018

The U.S. experienced a 10.9% decrease of ovarian cancer rates from 2014 to 2018, dropping from 11.0 per 100,000 in 2014 to 9.8 in 2018. Lung and bronchus cancer rates declined from 58.3 in 2014 to 53.6 in 2018, a decrease of 8.1%. Colon and Rectum cancer rates also decreased during this time, dropping 4.9%. (See Figure 4).

Figure 4 - Ovarian Cancer, Lung and Bronchus Cancer, and Colon and Rectum Cancer, Age-adjusted Rate Per 100,000 Persons, United States, 2014-2018