In the five-state Rocky Mountain region, cancer took the lives of nearly 17,900 people in 2020.  Relative to population size, the Rocky Mountain region's cancer death rate of 142.5 deaths per 100,000 population was the lowest regional cancer death rate in the U.S. in 2020.  Only in counties in the region's most rural areas was the cancer death rate in 2020 higher than in the nation as a whole.  A further review of data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reveals the following about urban vs. rural cancer death rates in the Rocky Mountain region:

Urban vs. Rural Cancer Death Rates in the Rocky Mountain Region

County Classification	Deaths	Population	Death Rate*
Large Central Metro	2,164	1,901,055	113.8
Large Fringe Metro	3,028	2,330,205	129.9
Medium Metro	4,917	3,900,314	126.1
Small Metro	2,923	1,669,221	175.1
Micropolitan (Nonmetro)	2,463	1,616,653	152.4
NonCore (Nonmetro)	2,388	1,129,968	211.3
Region	17,883	12,547,416	142.5
Nationally	602,350	329,484,123	182.8

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

Report Period: 2020

States in region:  Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming

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 January 4, 2023