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U.S. Cancer Survival Reaches 70% in ACS 2026 Report

The ACS report credits decades of research plus earlier detection for the gains.

Dr. Christian Hinrichs (R), an investigator at the National Cancer Institute in immunotherapy for HPV+ cancers, shows patient Fred Janick, a survivor of metastatic cancer, the difference between his CT scan showing cancerous tumors (R) and a clean scan after treatment (L), after a day of medical exams showing no recurrence of cancer, at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, February 8, 2018. Experimental trials are ongoing at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, a US government-funded research hospital where doctors are trying to partially replace patients' immune systems with T-cells that would specifically attack cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted infection. A person's T-cells will naturally try to kill off any invader, including cancer, but usually fall short because tumors can mutate, hide, or simply overpower the immune system. Immunotherapies that have seen widespread success, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) cell therapies, mainly target blood cancers like lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia, which have a tumor antigen -- like a flag or a signal -- on the surface of the cells so it is easy for immune cells to find and target the harmful cells. But many common cancers lack this clear, surface signal. Hinrichs' approach focuses on HPV tumors because they contain viral antigens that the immune system can easily recognize. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
New national data show the overall five-year cancer survival rate has reached 70%. Dr. Todd Ellerin from South Shore Health discuss what’s driving the gains and prevention steps.
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Overview

  • Five-year relative survival for diagnoses in 2015–2021 rose to 70% as the cancer death rate fell 34% since 1991, averting an estimated 4.8 million deaths.
  • Formerly lethal cancers saw the biggest improvements, with myeloma survival rising from 32% to 62%, liver from 7% to 22%, and lung from 15% to 28%.
  • Survival at distant stage roughly doubled since the mid-1990s, reaching 35% for metastatic disease across all cancers, with notable gains in melanoma and rectal cancer.
  • The ACS projects about 2,114,850 new U.S. cancer cases and 626,140 deaths in 2026, with lung cancer expected to cause the most deaths, exceeding colorectal and pancreatic combined.
  • Persistent gaps include the highest mortality among American Indian and Alaska Native people, low lung screening uptake near 18% for eligible adults, rising incidence in several common cancers and younger adults, and growing survivorship needs for roughly 18 million people as funding and insurance risks threaten progress.