Skin cancer
Incidence rates
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States.
Current estimates are that one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.
It is estimated that nearly 9,500 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer every day.5-7
Researchers estimate that 5.4 million cases of nonmelanoma skin cancer, including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, were treated in 3.3 million people in the United States in 2012.
The overall incidence of BCC increased by 145 percent between 1976-1984 and 2000-2010, and the overall incidence of SCC increased 263 percent over that same period.
Women had the greatest increase in incidence rates for both types of NMSC
NMSC incidence rates are increasing in people younger than 40.8
More than 1 million Americans are living with melanoma.
It is estimated that 161,790 new cases of melanoma, 74,680 noninvasive (in situ) and 87,110 invasive, will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2017.6-7
Invasive melanoma is projected to be the fifth most common cancer for men (52,170 cases) and the sixth most common cancer for women (34,940 cases) in 2017.
Melanoma rates in the United States doubled from 1982 to 2011.1
Caucasians and men older than 50 have a higher risk of developing melanoma than the general population.
The incidence in men ages 80 and older is three times higher than women of the same age.
The annual incidence rate of melanoma in non-Hispanic Caucasians is 26 per 100,000, compared to 5 per 100,000 in Hispanics and 1 per 100,000 in African-Americans.
In people of color, melanoma is often diagnosed at later stages, when the disease is more advanced.
Before age 50, melanoma incidence rates are higher in women than in men, but by age 65, rates are twice as high in men.
Melanoma in Caucasian women younger than 44 has increased 6.1 percent annually, which may reflect recent trends in indoor tanning.10
Melanoma is the second most common form of cancer in females age 15-29.12
Melanoma incidence is increasing faster in females age 15-29 than in males of the same age group.