Don’t wait too late: learn the facts, get the results! 

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the US, after nonmelanoma skin cancer. It mostly affects women aged 50 and older, who develop about 83% of new breast cancer cases and represent 91% of deaths from breast cancer. Half of the women who die from breast cancer in the US are age 70 or older. 

Men can get breast cancer, too, but this is much less common. In 2022, an estimated 287,850 women and 2,710 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer. An estimated 43,250 women and 530 men will die from the disease. 

Breast cancer incidence rates have risen slowly in most of the past 40 years. During the most recent decade of data, 2010 through 2019, the rate increased by 0.5% a year. The increase is likely due at least in part to more women having excess body weight and the declining fertility rate of women in the US. 

The total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime, and it’s been found to be related to the risk of developing breast cancer. Women who have not given birth to children or who gave birth to their first child after age 30 have a slightly higher overall risk for developing breast cancer later in life. Having many pregnancies and becoming pregnant before age 30 reduces a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. The effect of weight and fertility rates seems to be limited to an increased risk of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer (HR+)—the most common type of breast cancer and the largest driver of increasing incidence rates. HR+ tumors are more likely to be detected early by mammography than HR- tumors, and they have higher survival. 

Most new breast cancer cases are diagnosed at a localized stage, meaning they have not spread outside of the breast. These early-stage cancers are most often found during breast cancer screening and typically have a high rate of survival because treatment is more effective at this stage. Overall, the pace of the reduction in female breast cancer death rates is slower than it was during the 1990s and 2000s. Still, the 43% overall decline in mortality translates to 460,000 deaths avoided between 1989 and 2020. This decline is attributed to earlier detection through breast cancer screening and increased awareness of the disease, as well as improvements in treatment. 

The racial disparity in deaths from breast cancer has remained at 40% or higher for a decade. 

• Black women younger than age 50 had a death rate that was twice as high as White women that age. Plus, Black women are more likely than White women to die of breast cancer at any age. 

• AIAN women were 17% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than White women, but 4% more likely to die from the disease. 

Part of the reason the breast cancer death rate is not dropping as fast as it has in previous years is because screening rates aren’t increasing and too few women are receiving timely and high-quality treatment after they’re diagnosed with breast cancer. 

On January 1, 2025, more than 4 million women were living in the US with a history of invasive breast cancer. Some of them were cancer-free, while others still had evidence of cancer and may have been undergoing treatment. 

• Black women have the lowest 5-year relative breast cancer survival rate compared to all other racial/ethnic groups for every stage of diagnosis and every breast cancer subtype. 

• The largest disparities in 5-year relative survival are for regional and distant stage breast cancer. Only 78% of Black women are living at least 5 years after their diagnosis of regional stage breast cancer compared to 88% of White women. For the distant stage, the gap is slightly larger – 21% versus 32% 

• There is a 6% to 8% gap in 5-year survival between Black and White women for every breast cancer subtype. 

About 30% of breast cancer diagnoses are linked to risk factors that women may be able to change—such as excess body weight, physical inactivity, and alcohol intake. Women can help lower their risk for developing breast cancer by being active, maintaining a healthy body weight, and limiting alcohol. They can also help lower their risk of death from breast cancer by talking with their doctor about how often to get a mammogram, sticking with that schedule, and promptly following up on any abnormal results. Following American Cancer Society guidelines for breast cancer screening can help women find breast cancer earlier, when treatments are more likely to be effective.