In 2020 the New England region recorded over 28,700 cancer deaths.  Relative to population size, the six-state region registered a cancer death rate of 193.6 deaths per 100,000 population, giving New England the third-highest regional cancer death rate in 2020.  While the region as a whole compared poorly to the national numbers, the cancer death rate in large central metro area counties was lower than the national average. In contrast, counties in smaller metro centers and rural areas recorded cancer death rates materially higher than the nation as a whole.  A closer study of data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) provides the following details about urban vs. rural cancer death rates in the New England region:

Urban vs. Rural Cancer Death Rates in New England

County Classification	Deaths	Population	Death Rate*
Large Central Metro	3,697	2,327,355	158.8
Large Fringe Metro	9,893	5,376,229	184.0
Medium Metro	8,744	4,592,468	190.4
Small Metro	1,956	819,097	238.8
Micropolitan (Nonmetro)	2,686	1,087,204	247.1
NonCore (Nonmetro)	1,772	645,115	274.7
Region	28,748	14,847,468	193.6
Nationally	602,350	329,484,123	182.8

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

Report Period: 2020

States in region:  Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont

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 31, 2022