Key Statistics for Kidney Cancer

Kidney cancer is one of the 10 most common cancers in both men and women in the United States.

How many people get kidney cancer?

The American Cancer Society’s most recent estimates for kidney cancer in the United States for 2026 are:

• About 80,450 new cases of kidney cancer (50,770 in men and 29,680 in women) will be diagnosed.
• About 15,160 people (10,200 men and 4,960 women) will die from this disease.

Kidney cancer accounts for about 3% to 5% of all cancers.

These numbers include all types of kidney and renal pelvis cancers combined. For more information on Wilms tumor, visit Key Statistics for Wilms Tumor.

What type of kidney cancer is most common?

In adults, the most common kidney cancer is renal cell carcinoma (RCC). About 9 in 10 kidney cancers in adults are renal cell carcinomas.

In children, the most common kidney cancers are Wilms tumors. About 9 in 10 kidney cancers in children are Wilms tumors.

Who develops kidney cancer?

Most people with kidney cancers are older.

• Most people are diagnosed between ages 55 and 74.
• The average age at diagnosis is 65.
• Kidney cancer is uncommon in people younger than age 45.

Kidney cancer is about twice as common in men than in women. It is more common in American Indian and Alaska Native people.

Lifetime risk of kidney cancer

• Overall, the lifetime risk for developing kidney cancer in men is about 1 in 45 (2.2%).
• The lifetime risk for women is about 1 in 75 (1.3%).

But each person’s chance of kidney cancer can be affected by a number of risk factors.

Trends in new cases and death rates

The rate of new kidney cancers found each year has been rising for many years. Part of this rise is probably due to the use of newer imaging tests such as CT scans, which pick up some cancers that might never have been found otherwise.

However, the outlook for kidney cancer has been improving for many years. Survival rates for adults diagnosed with kidney cancer are discussed in Survival Rates for Kidney Cancer.

Visit the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics Center for more key statistics.