The 2020 calendar year produced over 90,400 cancer deaths in the Mid-Eastern U.S., a region that encompasses five states and the District of Columbia.  At 185.4 cancer deaths per 100,000 population, the region's cancer death rate was less than 1.5% above the national average.  Consistent with patterns seen elsewhere in the country, there was a wide divide in cancer death rates between urban and rural parts of the region. In counties in rural areas and small-to-medium-sized metro areas in the Mid-Eastern U.S., cancer death rates in 2020 were considerably higher than in counties that comprise the region's largest population centers.  A closer review of National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) data provides the following details about urban vs. rural cancer death rates in the Mid-Eastern U.S.:

Urban vs. Rural Cancer Death Rates in the Mid-Eastern U.S.

County Classification	Deaths	Population	Death Rate*
Large Central Metro	25,377	16,027,707	158.3
Large Fringe Metro	37,313	20,382,556	183.1
Medium Metro	14,678	6,793,188	216.1
Small Metro	5,723	2,615,582	218.8
Micropolitan (Nonmetro)	5,099	2,074,663	245.8
NonCore (Nonmetro)	2,220	864,132	256.9
Region	90,410	48,757,828	185.4
Nationally	602,350	329,484,123	182.8

(*) number of cancer deaths per 100,000 population

Report Period: 2020

States in region:  Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania

See the 2013 NCHS Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for additional information on population categories, including a map of which U.S. counties fall in which categories.

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2020 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2021. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2020, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on December 29, 2022