Cancer Mortality in the United States

10 Most Common Cancer Deaths by Sex, Whites and Blacks

The number one cause of cancer death in the United States is cancer of the lung and bronchus. Even when analyzed by race and sex, lung cancer is number one for white males and females and for black males. For black females, breast cancer mortality is slightly higher than lung cancer.

For white males, the colon/rectal mortality is similar to that for prostate cancer (second and third, respectively). For black males, colon/rectal cancer mortality was also third, but the colon/rectal mortality rate is much less than that for prostate cancer. The mortality rates for esophagus, pancreas, and stomach are similar for black males.