Health & Medicine
The Deadliest Cancers in the United States
Lung cancer is estimated to cause about one in five US cancer deaths in 2026, more than colorectal and pancreatic cancer combined. These are the American Cancer Society's statistical estimates, not counts, ranked by estimated deaths.
Pictured: a still from the American Cancer Society’s “Behind the Science: Lung Cancer Screening”; lung and bronchus cancer is #1 with an estimated 124,990 deaths in 2026.
Read this first: every number here is a statistical estimate for 2026 by the American Cancer Society, projected from earlier national data with a model, not a count of deaths that have happened; the ACS rounds them to the nearest 10 and says they should be interpreted with caution. Rows are ranked by estimated deaths for both sexes combined, out of an estimated 626,140 cancer deaths in 2026 (“Share” is a row’s deaths divided by that total). The 15 rows together are about 79 percent of it. The table lists the ACS’s own site rows, so colon and rectum are combined (the ACS does this because many rectal cancer deaths are misclassified as colon), leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma are each one row, and the ACS’s system-level subtotals (such as “digestive system”) and its “other & unspecified primary sites” row (54,310 deaths) are left out. Rows just below the cut are multiple myeloma (10,850 deaths), stomach (10,740) and melanoma of the skin (8,510). A dash means the cancer is sex-specific. New cases leave out basal and squamous cell skin cancers and in situ carcinoma, except for bladder. Rankings of this kind change slowly; for treatment, screening or risk questions, see the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.[1]
The Top 10
#1
Lung & bronchus — 124,990 deaths
Lung and bronchus cancer is projected to cause more deaths in 2026 than the next two sites, colorectal and pancreas, combined (107,970), about 20.0 percent of all cancer deaths. The estimated 229,410 new cases are the third-largest case count in the table, behind prostate and breast. Deaths split almost evenly by sex, 63,040 in men and 61,950 in women. The ACS report notes that five-year relative survival for lung cancer has risen from 15 percent to 28 percent since the mid-1990s. The video is from the American Cancer Society’s own channel.[2]
#2
Colon & rectum — 55,230 deaths
The ACS combines colon and rectal cancer deaths into one figure because a large number of rectal cancer deaths are misclassified as colon. About 158,850 new cases are expected, 108,860 of colon and 49,990 of rectum, and 30,110 of the deaths are in men against 25,120 in women. The report notes that colorectal cancer is also increasing in adults younger than 50.[3]
#3
Pancreas — 52,740 deaths
Pancreatic cancer is third in deaths but only tenth in new cases among these rows: 67,530 cases and 52,740 deaths are estimated, so the death total is about four-fifths of the case total. Deaths are nearly even by sex, 27,230 in men and 25,510 in women.[4]
#4
Breast — 42,670 deaths
The most commonly diagnosed cancer in the table (324,580 estimated new cases, 321,910 in women and 2,670 in men) ranks fourth in deaths, with 42,140 deaths in women and 530 in men. The ACS also estimates 60,730 additional cases of female ductal carcinoma in situ, which are not in the new-case count.[5]
#5
Prostate — 36,320 deaths
Prostate cancer has the largest new-case estimate of any row (333,830) but about a tenth as many deaths as new cases. All deaths are in men, and they make up 11.1 percent of the estimated 327,290 male cancer deaths.[6]
#6
Liver & intrahepatic bile duct — 30,980 deaths
About 42,340 new cases and 30,980 deaths are estimated, 19,650 deaths in men and 11,330 in women. The ACS report notes that five-year relative survival for liver cancer has risen from 7 percent to 22 percent since the mid-1990s.[7]
#7
Leukemia — 23,910 deaths
All leukemia types are combined in this row. ACS breaks it into acute myeloid leukemia (11,500 deaths, the largest part), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (4,350), acute lymphocytic leukemia (1,600), chronic myeloid leukemia (1,170) and other leukemia (5,290). Of the 67,790 estimated new cases, 39,070 are in men and 28,720 in women.[8]
#8
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma — 19,970 deaths
One of two lymphoma rows in the ACS table; Hodgkin lymphoma adds only 1,100 deaths. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma has 79,320 estimated new cases. The Mayo Clinic video covers lymphoma generally, including both types.[9]
#9
Brain & other nervous system — 18,350 deaths
A less common cancer by new cases (24,740 estimated) with 18,350 deaths expected, 9,970 in men and 8,380 in women. Its place just ahead of bladder cancer is a near-tie, 18,350 against 17,870 deaths.[10]
#10
Urinary bladder — 17,870 deaths
About 84,530 new cases are estimated, 64,730 in men and 19,800 in women, and 12,640 of the deaths are in men against 5,230 in women. The ACS bladder-case figure includes in situ (non-invasive) carcinoma, which other sites in the table leave out.[11]
Sources
- American Cancer Society, Estimated Number of New Cancer Cases and Deaths by Sex, US, 2026 (American Cancer Society 2026 statistics table; cancer.org). Every figure in the table and write-ups, including the 626,140 total, the estimated new cases and the male and female deaths, comes from this one table. The ACS rounds estimates to the nearest 10; shares are computed here as a row’s deaths divided by 626,140.
- Siegel RL, et al., “Cancer statistics, 2026,” CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians (acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com; also PubMed Central): the estimates are model-based projections and the ACS says they should be interpreted with caution; lung and bronchus is projected to cause more deaths than colorectal and pancreas combined; rising colorectal cancer in adults under 50. Survival changes for lung and liver cancer as summarized in OncLive.
