Science

The CDC mapped out where people with cancer live in the US — here's what it found

By Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer
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cancer cells
A tray containing cancer cells sits on an optical microscope in the Nanomedicine Lab at UCL's School of Pharmacy in London.  REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US, accounting for one in four deaths in Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Over the last few decades, cancer death rates have been falling, with the exception of a few key types of cancer: liver, pancreatic, and endometrial cancer. 

To get a better look at the incidence of cancer and cancer death rates across the US, the CDC mapped out the data on a state-by-state level. Here's what they found.

This map looks at the rate of new cancer cases by state per 100,000 people. This is specifically looking at 2013, which is the most recent year available. The darker the color, the higher the rate.

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CDC.gov

The CDC was also able to capture the rates of cancer deaths in the US per 100,000 people. "Cancer counts and rates are essential to measuring progress and targeting action toward this major cause of death among Americans," the CDC said.

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CDC.gov

Source: CDC

The data shows that Kentucky has the overall highest rate of cancer deaths (199.3 deaths per 100,000 people), while Utah has the lowest rate (127.9 deaths per 100,000 people).

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CDC.gov

Source: CDC

The data can also be broken down by type of cancer and sex. Here's what the rates of cancer deaths look like related to pancreatic cancer. In Florida, there were 2,803 cases reported in 2013.

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CDC.gov

If you want to look at the overall number of new cancer diagnoses, the CDC breaks down that map as well.

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CDC.gov

The data also shows how rates of new cancers have gone down in some states over the years — in particular Illinois and most of the western US.

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CDC.gov

The page also provided breakdowns of the leading new cancer cases alongside the 10 types of cancer that caused the highest rate of cancer deaths in 2013. Lung and bronchial cancer was the leading cause of cancer deaths for both men and women, while the highest rates of new cancer were breast for women and prostate for men.

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CDC.gov

Check out more of the data here. 

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Lydia Ramsey
Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer
Lydia was a senior editor for the healthcare team at Insider. She joined Insider in 2015 after graduating from Northwestern University. At Insider, she covered everything from healthcare mega-mergers, to drug-pricing debates, to pharmacy disruptors, to private healthcare startups that rack up high valuations (including Theranos of course), and the new ways people are going to the doctor. That included the changing footprint of the hospital and how they fared in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.  
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