What were the leading causes of cancer death in 2019? Lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer death, accounting for 23% of all cancer deaths. Other common causes of cancer death were cancers of the colon and rectum (9%), pancreas (8%), female breast (7%), prostate (5%), and liver and intrahepatic bile duct (5%).
Cancer was the second leading cause of death, after heart disease, in the United States in 2019. In 2019, there were 599,601 cancer deaths; 283,725 were among females and 315,876 among males.