California has one of America's lowest lung cancer rates
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California has the third-lowest rate of annual lung cancer diagnoses, according to the American Lung Association's 2025 State of Lung Cancer report.
Why it matters: Lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer deaths — but the five-year survival rate has increased to almost 30% nationwide, the group finds, up from 18% about a decade ago.
- That's thanks in part to screening, testing and treatment developments.
Zoom in: Varying access to testing and treatment, plus exposure to risk factors (smoking, pollution, etc.), drive big differences between states' lung cancer metrics, per the report.
- Utah (25.3), New Mexico (32) and California (36.5) had the lowest rates of annual lung cancer diagnoses per 100,000 residents between 2018-2022.
- Kentucky (84.1), West Virginia (76.3) and Mississippi (68.7) had the highest.
Between the lines: Screenings help doctors detect lung cancer earlier, which makes it more treatable and less deadly. But only 17% of high-risk individuals (longtime, heavy smokers over age 50) are getting screened in California.
- The state ranks among the best for five-year survival rates, but below the national average for early diagnosis and screenings.
- Scripps Health launched the Jana Oliphant Hackett Lung Cancer Screening Program in 2022 to get more at-risk people in for annual scans in San Diego.
What we're watching: Trump-era budget and staffing cuts at the NIH and CDC — plus "deep cuts" to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act — "could threaten" the progress made on these metrics, the Lung Association warns.
- "CDC is critical in helping to prevent lung cancer by funding programs to prevent tobacco use and help people quit, and the research done at NIH has led to 73 new treatments for lung cancer in the last decade alone," Lung Association CEO Harold Wimmer said in a statement.