Key Statistics for Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancers

The American Cancer Society’s most recent estimates for oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers in the United States are for 2024:

• About 58,450 new cases of oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer
• About 12,230 deaths from oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer

Oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers occur most often in the following sites:

• The tongue
• The tonsils and oropharynx (the part of the throat behind the mouth)
• The gums, floor of the mouth, and other parts of the mouth

The rest are found in the lips, the minor salivary glands (which often occur in the roof of the mouth), and other sites.

What is the average age of people who get oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer?

The average age of people diagnosed with these cancers is 64, but they can occur in young people. Just over 20% (1 in 5) of cases occur in people younger than 55.

How common is oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer?

These cancers are more than twice as common in men as in women. They are slightly more common in White people than Black people.

Overall, the lifetime risk of developing oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer is about 1 in 59 for men and 1 in 139 for women. These are average risks, but a number of factors (described in Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancer Risk Factors) can affect your risk for developing mouth and throat cancer.

Trends for oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer

Since the mid-2000s, incidence rates have increased by about 1% per year, mostly because of a rise in cancers linked with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. These HPV-positive cancers tend to act differently than HPV-negative cancers. To learn more, see Risk Factors for Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancers and Causes of Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancers.

The death rate for cancers of the mouth and throat increased by 0.6% per year from 2009 through 2021, after decades of decline. This is mainly because of an increase in oropharyngeal cancer mortality of almost 2% per year during that time.

For statistics related to survival, see Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancer Survival Rates.

Visit the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics Center for more key statistics.