This list of common cancer types includes cancers that are diagnosed with the greatest frequency in the United States, excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers:

Cancer incidence and mortality statistics reported by the American Cancer Society¹ and other resources were used to create the list. To qualify as a common cancer for the list, the estimated annual incidence for 2013 had to be 40,000 cases or more.

The most common type of cancer on the list is prostate cancer, with more than 238,000 new cases expected in the United States in 2013. The next most common cancers are breast cancer and lung cancer. 

Because colon and rectal cancers are often referred to as "colorectal cancers," these two cancer types are combined for the list. For 2013, the estimated number of new cases of colon cancer and rectal cancer are 102,480 and 40,340, respectively, adding to a total of 142,820 new cases of colorectal cancer.

Kidney cancers can be divided into two major groups, renal parenchyma cancers and renal pelvis cancers. Approximately 92 percent of kidney cancers develop in the renal parenchyma,² and nearly all of these cancers are renal cell cancers. The estimated number of new cases of renal cell cancer for 2013 is 59,938.

The following table gives the estimated numbers of new cases and deaths for each common cancer type:

References

1.  American Cancer Society: Cancer Facts and Figures 2013. Atlanta, Ga: American Cancer Society, 2013. Also available online (PDF - 1,250 KB). Last accessed January 22, 2013.
2.  Chow W-H, Dong LM, and Devesa SS: Epidemiology and risk factors for kidney cancer. Nature Reviews Urology 7(5):245-257, 2010. [PUBMED Abstract]