In 2020, cancer accounted for over 66,800 deaths in the four-state Southwestern U.S.  Relative to the size of its population, the U.S. Southwest had a cancer death rate of 155.9 deaths per 100,000 population in 2020, which was about 14.7% below the national average.  This favorable comparison to the national average in 2020 was wholly attributable to cancer death rates in counties in the region's large and medium metro areas, where cancer death rates were considerably lower than the national average. On the other hand, counties in smaller communities and rural areas in the Southwest had cancer death rates in 2020 that were substantially higher than in the nation as a whole.  A closer review of data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reveals the following details about urban vs. rural cancer death rates in the Southwestern U.S.:

Urban vs. Rural Cancer Death Rates in the Southwestern U.S.

County Classification	Deaths	Population	Death Rate*
Large Central Metro	25,226	19,280,005	130.8
Large Fringe Metro	10,488	7,012,596	149.6
Medium Metro	12,335	7,702,280	160.1
Small Metro	6,678	3,423,216	195.1
Micropolitan (Nonmetro)	6,708	3,284,626	204.2
NonCore (Nonmetro)	5,400	2,166,539	249.2
Region	66,835	42,869,262	155.9
Nationally	602,350	329,484,123	182.8

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

Report Period: 2020

States in region:  Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas

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 16, 2023