How many people get thyroid cancer?

The American Cancer Society’s estimates for thyroid cancer in the United States for 2013 are:

• About 60,220 new cases of thyroid cancer (45,310 in women, and 14,910 in men)
• About 1,850 deaths from thyroid cancer (1,040 women and 810 men)

Thyroid cancer is most often found in people at a younger age than most other adult cancers. Nearly 2 out of 3 cases are found in people younger than 55. About 2% of thyroid cancers occur in children and teens.

The death rate from thyroid cancer has been fairly stable for many years and remains very low compared with most other cancers. Statistics on survival rates for thyroid cancer are discussed in the section, “Survival rates for thyroid cancer.”