Cancer in Oakland County: How Many New Cases Are Diagnosed Each Year

How many new cancer cases are diagnosed in Oakland County each year, and how does the county compare with Michigan and the rest of the country? State Cancer Profiles, run by the National Cancer Institute and the CDC, reports new cases for every county from state cancer registries. This study looks at Oakland County's figures for 2019 to 2023, the latest available.

What the numbers show

Oakland County averaged 7,852 new cancer cases a year in 2019 to 2023: 4,030 in men and 3,822 in women. Adjusted for age, that is 466.6 new cases per 100,000 people a year. The county's rate is a little above Michigan's (457.4) and the U.S. rate (453.4), and the 95% intervals do not overlap. Neighboring Wayne County (481.9) and Macomb County (491.6) have higher rates.

The overall rate has been falling by 0.9% a year over the most recent five years, faster for men (1.4% a year) than for women (0.4% a year). Not every cancer is moving the same way: the rate of lung cancer is falling by 2.0% a year, while the rate of female breast cancer is rising by 0.7% a year.

Most diagnoses come later in life: 7,015 of the cases each year are in people 50 and older. Still, 834 a year are in people under 50.

What this means for people facing cancer and those close to them

• A diagnosis can feel isolating, but it is common. About 150 new diagnoses are made in Oakland County each week, and many others are going through the same tests, treatments and waiting.
• Each diagnosis also reaches partners, children, parents, friends and coworkers. These figures count diagnoses, not the people around them, so the number of people affected is larger.
• Cancer is not only a later-life illness: 834 diagnoses a year in the county are in people under 50.
• Free local support exists. In Oakland County, Gilda's Club Metro Detroit in Royal Oak offers free cancer support programs (248-577-0800), and the American Cancer Society's helpline is available at 1-800-227-2345.
• For the emotional side of a diagnosis, the practice's Cancer Emotional Support Guide has plain-language guides, and the cancer-related emotional support page explains how to ask about sessions.

Method and sources

State Cancer Profiles is a joint site of the National Cancer Institute and the CDC. Its county figures come from state cancer registries (here, Michigan's registry through CDC's National Program of Cancer Registries), based on the 2025 data submission. This study uses the incidence tables for 2019 to 2023: the average annual count of new cases, the incidence rate age-adjusted to the 2000 U.S. standard population, and the recent five-year trend, for all cancer sites and for each of the 19 adult cancer sites the site reports. Tables were downloaded as CSV on November 12, 2026. The summary figures and the three most common sites were checked a second time against the site's own HTML tables.

• NCI/CDC State Cancer Profiles, incidence rates table, Michigan by county, all sites: statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/incidencerates/index.php?stateFIPS=26&areatype=county&cancer=001&race=00&sex=0&age=001&stage=999&year=0&type=incd&sortVariableName=rate&sortOrder=default
• State Cancer Profiles home: statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/

Limits

• These are new diagnoses (incidence). They do not count people living with or after cancer, and they say nothing about treatment, survival or outcomes.
• Counts are cases, not people: someone diagnosed with two separate cancers counts twice. Cases are counted where the person lived when diagnosed, not where they were treated.
• Rates cover invasive cancers (bladder includes in situ). Common skin cancers other than melanoma are not registered and are not included.
• Five-year averages smooth out year-to-year swings. The latest year included is 2023.