The percentage of U.S. adults who report ever being diagnosed with cancer has now reached 9.7% in 2024-2025, a significant increase from the 7.0% Gallup recorded in 2008-2009. The share of adults with a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime registered just over 7% from 2010 to 2015, before starting to climb. It has increased at a greater pace over the past decade.
Gallup’s measurement of cancer prevalence rates is part of its ongoing National Health and Well-Being Index. Shown in two-year averages, the most recent results are based on 16,946 U.S. adults surveyed by web during the first three quarters of 2025 and another 23,969 adults surveyed in 2024 as part of the Gallup Panel. For the rate of lifetime diagnoses, Gallup asks, “Has a doctor or nurse ever told you that you have cancer?”
The rise in reported lifetime cancer diagnoses over the past 18 years has occurred amid slightly lower rates of new incidences of cancer over much of this time. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that, per capita, new cancer cases eased by 4% over a 10-year period, from 460.5 per 100,000 persons in 2013 to 442.3 per 100,000 in 2022.
A record high of nearly one in 10 Americans (9.7%) report having been diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lifetime, even as new incidences of cancer are slowly falling. pic.twitter.com/ENNSnBo4Kb
— Gallup (@Gallup) November 24, 2025