Skin Cancer Statistics

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. The following statistics refer to melanomas of the skin. Non-epithelial skin cancers, which are not reflected below, represent 7% of skin cancers that are tracked by central cancer registries. These statistics also do not include data for basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, which are not tracked by central cancer registries.

In 2008 (the most recent year numbers are available)—

• 59,695 people in the United States were diagnosed with melanomas of the skin, including 38,484 men and 25,211 women.*†
• 8,623 people in the United States died from melanomas of the skin, including 5,672 men and 2,951 women.*†

*Incidence and death counts cover approximately 100% of the U.S. population.

†Source: U.S. Cancer Statistics Working Group. United States Cancer Statistics: 1999–2008 Incidence and Mortality Web-based Report. Atlanta (GA): Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Cancer Institute; 2012. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/uscs. (full site)