Kentucky currently has the highest overall cancer rate among U.S. states, with a bit over 500 new cancer cases per 100,000 people per year, depending on the exact dataset and years used.

Quick Scoop

  • Top state: Kentucky has the highest cancer incidence rate in the country in recent analyses of state-level cancer data, consistently ranking number one across multiple recent reports.
  • How high is it? Recent compilations of CDC and cancer registry data put Kentucky at roughly 500+ new cancer cases per 100,000 residents annually, clearly above the U.S. average in the low‑to‑mid 400s per 100,000.
  • Other high‑rate states: States that often appear just behind Kentucky include West Virginia, Iowa, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Maine, all with rates well above 450 new cases per 100,000.

Why Kentucky ranks so high

Several overlapping factors are repeatedly highlighted as potential drivers of Kentucky’s very high cancer burden.

  • High prevalence of smoking and tobacco use, one of the strongest and best‑documented risk factors for multiple cancers (especially lung and bronchus cancers).
  • Socioeconomic challenges in parts of the state (for example, the Appalachian region), including lower income, geographic isolation, and reduced access to preventive healthcare and early screening.
  • Higher rates of other lifestyle‑related risk factors such as obesity and limited access to healthy foods and consistent primary care in some communities.

States on the lower end

On the opposite side of the spectrum, a few states tend to show substantially lower overall cancer incidence rates.

  • New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and California are frequently reported with fewer than 400 new cancer cases per 100,000 people, well below Kentucky’s level.
  • Explanations for lower rates include different age structures, less industrial pollution in some areas, and varying patterns of healthcare use and diagnosis; however, in some places, lower diagnosis rates may partly reflect barriers to access rather than truly lower disease burden.

Important context and cautions

Cancer rate rankings can shift slightly from year to year as new data are released, but Kentucky has remained at or near the top for overall incidence in the most recent multi‑year datasets.

  • Different sources sometimes focus on specific years, time windows, or cancer types, yet they still converge on Kentucky as having the highest total cancer incidence.
  • “Highest cancer rate” refers here to new cases per 100,000 people , not necessarily the highest death rate, which has its own pattern and can differ somewhat from incidence rankings.

TL;DR: Kentucky has the highest overall cancer rate of any U.S. state, with more than 500 new cases per 100,000 residents annually in recent data, putting it well above the national average and consistently at the top of state rankings.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.