Socioeconomic status overshadows race as the primary driver of cancer mortality in America, though racial disparities persist even when comparing people with similar educational backgrounds, according to comprehensive new data analyzing deaths from 2019 through 2023.
Black adults face higher cancer mortality than White adults across all education levels, with gaps ranging from 7% to 28% among men and 2% to 43% among women. However, educational differences within each racial group prove far more dramatic. Among White men, those with a high school education or less die from cancer at nearly three times the rate of college graduates. Black men and White women show similarly stark educational divides.
The pattern holds for specific cancers, including lung and colorectal disease, where educational differences dwarf racial gaps. Prostate cancer stands as an exception, with race playing a larger role than education—Black men die at roughly twice the rate of White men regardless of schooling.
These mortality patterns trace back to systemic inequalities rooted in historical practices like redlining, which denied financial services to predominantly Black neighborhoods. The Black-White wealth gap remains virtually unchanged since the 1950s, with Black household median wealth at just 15% of White household wealth in 2022.
The disparities extend across the cancer continuum. Black and American Indian/Alaska Native populations show lower rates of early-stage cancer detection and reduced survival rates, even when diagnosed at the same stage as White patients with identical cancers.
See: “American Cancer Society’s Report on the Status of Cancer Disparities in the United States, 2025” (December 27, 2025)
