Key Statistics for Breast Cancer in Men

How common is breast cancer in men?

The American Cancer Society estimates for breast cancer in men in the United States for 2024 are:

  • About 2,790 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed
  • About 530 men will die from breast cancer

Breast cancer is about 100 times less common among White men than among White women.  It is about 70 times less common among Black men than Black women. As in Black women, Black men with breast cancer tend to have a worse prognosis (outlook).

For men, the average lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is about 1 in 726. But each man's risk might be higher or lower than this, based on whether he has risk factors for breast cancer.

Visit the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics Center for more key statistics.

Written by
References

The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team

Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.

American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2024. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2024.

Howlader N, Noone AM, Krapcho M, Miller D, Bishop K, Kosary CL, Yu M, Ruhl J, Tatalovich Z, Mariotto A, Lewis DR, Chen HS, Feuer EJ, Cronin KA (eds). Lifetime Risk (Percent) of Being Diagnosed with Cancer by Site and Race/Ethnicity; Males, 18 SEER Areas, 2012-2014SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2014, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, https://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2014/, based on November 2016 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site, April 2017.

Jain S and Gradishar WJ. Chapter 61: Male Breast Cancer. In: Harris JR, Lippman ME, Morrow M, Osborne CK, eds. Diseases of the Breast. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott-Williams & Wilkins; 2014.

Sun HF, et al.  Clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcomes of male breast cancer according to race: A SEER population-based study.  Oncotarget, 2017, Vol. 8, (No. 41), pp: 69680-69690. 

Last Revised: January 19, 2024

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