Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, with an estimated 158,850 new cases expected in 2026. Roughly 1.48 million Americans were living with the disease as of 2023. Globally, about 1.9 million new cases are diagnosed each year, making it the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide.
How Many People Get Colorectal Cancer Each Year
In the U.S., colorectal cancer accounts for a significant share of all new cancer diagnoses. The 158,850 new cases projected for 2026 include cancers of both the colon and the rectum. To put that in perspective, roughly 435 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed on any given day.
The global picture is even larger. In 2022, approximately 1.9 million people were diagnosed with colorectal cancer worldwide, and more than 900,000 died from it. Incidence rates are highest in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Mortality rates are highest in Eastern Europe, where access to screening and early treatment tends to be more limited.
Who Is Most at Risk
Risk increases sharply with age. Most colorectal cancers are diagnosed in people over 50, and the average age at diagnosis is in the mid-60s. Men face a somewhat higher risk than women, though the disease is common in both. A family history of colorectal cancer or polyps, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, heavy alcohol use, smoking, and a diet high in processed meat all raise the likelihood.
Black Americans have notably higher incidence and mortality rates than other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. The reasons are layered: lower screening rates, later-stage diagnosis, differences in access to care, and possibly biological factors that researchers are still working to understand. These disparities persist even after accounting for income and insurance status, which suggests systemic barriers play a role beyond individual risk factors.
Rising Rates in Younger Adults
One of the most concerning trends in cancer medicine over the past two decades is the steady rise of colorectal cancer in people under 50. A large international analysis found that early-onset colorectal cancer incidence increased in 27 countries during the most recent decade of available data. Some of the steepest climbs were in New Zealand (nearly 4% per year), Chile (about 4% per year), Puerto Rico (close to 4% per year), and England (roughly 3.6% per year).
No single explanation accounts for this shift. Researchers point to rising obesity rates, more sedentary lifestyles, changes in diet, and shifts in the gut microbiome as contributing factors. The trend prompted the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to lower the recommended age for first screening from 50 to 45 in 2021. If you are in your 40s and have never been screened, that guideline now applies to you.
How Screening Changes the Numbers
Screening is one of the few tools in medicine that can actually prevent cancer, not just detect it. Colonoscopies can find and remove precancerous polyps before they ever become malignant. That means screening doesn’t just catch cancer early; it stops some cases from developing at all.
The CDC estimates that increasing screening rates to 80% of eligible adults could reduce the number of people diagnosed with colorectal cancer by 22% by 2030. That is a significant drop from a single public health intervention. Current screening options include colonoscopy (typically every 10 years), stool-based tests like FIT (annually), and stool DNA tests (every three years). Each has tradeoffs in convenience, sensitivity, and cost, but all are effective at catching cancer in its earlier, more treatable stages.
Despite this, about a third of eligible adults in the U.S. are not up to date on screening. The gap is wider among uninsured individuals, younger adults who only recently became eligible, and communities with limited access to gastroenterology services.
Survival Depends Heavily on Stage
Colorectal cancer caught early is highly treatable. When the disease is found while still localized, meaning it hasn’t spread beyond the wall of the colon or rectum, the five-year survival rate is roughly 90%. Once it has spread to nearby lymph nodes (regional stage), that drops to around 73%. If it has reached distant organs like the liver or lungs, the five-year survival rate falls to about 15%.
This enormous gap between stages is exactly why screening matters so much. The difference between a localized diagnosis and a distant one is often the difference between a straightforward surgical recovery and years of chemotherapy. About a third of colorectal cancers are still found at the regional or distant stage, usually because the person was not being screened or because symptoms were dismissed as something less serious, like hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome.
Symptoms That Prompt Diagnosis
Early colorectal cancer frequently causes no symptoms at all, which is why screening exists. When symptoms do appear, the most common ones include a persistent change in bowel habits (diarrhea, constipation, or narrowing of the stool lasting more than a few days), rectal bleeding or blood in the stool, cramping or abdominal pain that doesn’t go away, unexplained weight loss, and fatigue that doesn’t improve with rest.
These symptoms overlap with many less serious conditions, which is part of the problem. Younger adults in particular tend to attribute rectal bleeding to hemorrhoids and delay seeking evaluation. Studies of early-onset cases consistently show longer diagnostic delays compared to older adults, partly because neither patients nor their doctors initially suspect cancer in someone under 50. If you notice any of these changes and they persist for more than a couple of weeks, getting evaluated is worthwhile regardless of your age.