Health Outcomes
Cancer Prevalence by County — US Rankings
CDC PLACES 2023 · Age-adjusted prevalence · All 3,144 US counties
This measure captures adults who have ever been told by a doctor they had cancer other than non-melanoma skin cancer — including melanoma. It is a prevalence estimate, not incidence: it pools survivors with newly diagnosed cases. PLACES models the figure from BRFSS responses and age-adjusts to make counties with different age structures comparable. High prevalence in retirement-heavy counties is partly a survival story (better long-term care keeps patients alive). For cancer incidence specifically, the NIH State Cancer Profiles tool publishes per-site incidence by county; this PLACES measure is broader and survey-based.
How this ranking is built
Source: CDC PLACES 2023 release. Methodology: BRFSS survey responses pooled across years, fitted with a small-area statistical model, age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population. Confidence intervals (95%) are shown for each county — wider intervals indicate more uncertainty in the modeled estimate, typically driven by smaller populations.
Lowest Cancer (non-skin) or Melanoma Rates — Top 100 Counties
Counties with the lowest reported cancer (non-skin) or melanoma prevalence — these counties show the most favorable position on this measure.
Best 100 counties for Cancer (non-skin) or Melanoma.
Highest Cancer (non-skin) or Melanoma Rates — Bottom 100 CountiesCounties with the highest reported cancer (non-skin) or melanoma prevalence.
Worst 100 counties for Cancer (non-skin) or Melanoma.
What this ranking suggests
Cancer prevalence rankings are dominated by population age and survival, not by where new diagnoses happen. For sharper questions ("is lung cancer incidence rising here?") consult the NIH State Cancer Profiles by primary site. The PLACES figure is a population-level health-services indicator, not an epidemiological one.
Methodology notes & limitations
Estimates are statistical model outputs, not direct measurements. Small counties have wider confidence intervals; treat narrow rank differences in those rows as within-noise. Counties where the underlying population is too small to support modeling are suppressed entirely (about 1% of US counties). All measures are age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population. The PLACES dataset uses BRFSS self-reported data — self-report introduces known direction-of-bias in some measures (BMI is under-reported; binge drinking is under-reported), but the bias is roughly uniform across counties so ranking comparability is preserved. See the methodology page for full data-pipeline documentation.
Data source: CDC PLACES 2023 release. Measure ID: CANCER.