Key Statistics for Colorectal Cancer

Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the United States.

How common is colorectal cancer?

The American Cancer Society’s estimates for the number of colorectal cancers in the United States for 2026 are:

• About 108,860 new cases of colon cancer (55,410 in men and 53,450 in women)
• About 49,990 new cases of rectal cancer (28,750 in men and 21,240 in women)

The rate of people being diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer has dropped overall since the mid-1980s, mainly because more people are getting screened and changing their lifestyle-related risk factors. From 2013 to 2022, incidence rates dropped by about 1% each year. But this downward trend is mostly in older adults. In people younger than 50 years of age, rates have increased by 2.9% per year from 2013 to 2022. In adults aged 50-64, the rate has increased by 0.4% per year during this time.

Deaths from colorectal cancer

In the United States, colorectal cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men and the fourth leading cause in women, but it’s the second most common cause of cancer deaths when numbers for men and women are combined. It’s expected to cause about 55,230 deaths during 2026.

The death rate from colorectal cancer has been dropping by about 1.5% per year in older adults during the past decade. There are a number of likely reasons for this. One is that colorectal polyps are now being found more often by screening and removed before they can develop into cancers. Screening also results in many colorectal cancers being found earlier, when they are likely to be easier to treat. In addition, treatments for colorectal cancer have improved over the last few decades. In people under 55, however, death rates have been increasing about 1% per year since the mid-2000s.

Statistics related to survival among people with colorectal cancer are discussed in Survival Rates for Colorectal Cancer.