The most deadly cancers, broken down by gender
Two million new cancer diagnoses were estimated in the US in 2025, with 618,120 estimated total cancer deaths. Those two numbers live in the same report, and the distance between them is where the real story is: which cancers were being caught early enough to survive, which weren’t, and whether the answer differed depending on whether you’re a man or a woman. It did. Sometimes dramatically.
The sourcing here comes from the American Cancer Society’s 2025 Cancer Facts and Figures report.
The leading cancer killers in men
An estimated 323,900 American men died of cancer in 2025 — roughly 887 per day. The top five causes, per the ACS:
- Lung & bronchus: 64,190 deaths
- Prostate: 35,770 deaths
- Colon & rectum: 28,900 deaths
- Pancreas: 27,050 deaths
- Liver & intrahepatic bile duct: 19,250 deaths
Lung, prostate and colorectal cancer together accounted for roughly 4o% of all male cancer deaths. Pancreatic and liver cancer shared one defining characteristic: by the time most patients knew they had them, the window for effective treatment had frequently already closed.
The leading cancer killers in women
An estimated 294,220 American women died of cancer in 2025 — roughly 806 per day. The top five causes, per the ACS:
- Lung & bronchus: 60,540 deaths
- Breast: 42,170 deaths
- Pancreas: 24,930 deaths
- Colon & rectum: 24,000 deaths
- Uterine corpus: 13,860 deaths
Lung cancer, not breast cancer, was the leading cause of cancer death among women — a fact that surprises most people. The ACS traced this directly to the rise in smoking rates among women beginning in the mid-20th century, a delayed fuse that was still detonating in the mortality data decades later.
Where the genders diverged most sharply
Some cancers were entirely or nearly gender-exclusive in their death toll, per the ACS:
- Prostate cancer: 35,770 male deaths, zero female deaths
- Breast cancer: 42,170 female deaths, 510 male deaths
- Uterine corpus cancer: 13,860 female deaths, zero male deaths
- Ovarian cancer: 12,730 female deaths, zero male deaths
Uterine corpus cancer was specifically identified by the ACS as one of only a handful of cancers with rising mortality, increasing roughly 1.5% per year since 2013. The ACS pointed to underfunded research relative to other gynecologic cancers and significant disparities in access to guideline-recommended care as contributing factors.
The cancers that killed both genders at comparable rates
Some cancers showed relatively even death tolls between men and women, per the ACS:
- Pancreatic cancer: 27,050 male deaths / 24,930 female deaths
- Colon & rectal cancer: 28,900 male deaths / 24,000 female deaths
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma: 11,060 male deaths / 8,330 female deaths
- Leukemia: 13,500 male deaths / 10,040 female deaths
Pancreatic cancer’s relatively even split reflected a shared problem: no reliable early detection method existed, symptoms were easily attributed to other causes, and most cases were discovered only after the cancer had spread. Colorectal cancer was different since screening was effective when it happened. Most of those deaths occurred in people who had not been screened.
The bottom line
The ACS estimated that at least 40% of newly diagnosed cancers in US adults were potentially avoidable, and that screening could reduce deaths from several of the cancers on this list by detecting disease early when treatment is most successful. Specific ACS recommendations include:
- Colorectal cancer screening beginning at age 45 for average-risk adults, using stool tests or colonoscopy
- Lung cancer screening with annual low-dose CT scan for adults ages 50 to 80 with a minimum 20 pack-year smoking history
- Breast cancer screening with mammography; the ACS recommends annual mammograms beginning at age 45 for women at average risk
- Cervical cancer screening with an HPV test every five years for individuals ages 25 through 65
- Prostate cancer screening through shared decision-making conversations with a healthcare provider beginning at age 50 for average-risk men, and at 45 for Black men or those with a close family member diagnosed before age 65
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Related:
- How cancer survival rates have changed since 1975
- 10 possible reasons younger people are developing colon cancer.
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