ON THIS PAGE: You will find information about the estimated number of people who will be diagnosed with male breast cancer each year. You will also read general information on surviving the disease. Remember, survival rates depend on several factors, and no 2 people with cancer are the same. Use the menu to see other pages.
Every person is different, with different factors influencing their risk of being diagnosed with this cancer and the chance of recovery after a diagnosis. It is important to talk with your doctor about any questions you have around the general statistics provided below and what they may mean for you individually. The original sources for these statistics are provided at the bottom of this page.
How many people are diagnosed with male breast cancer?
In 2023, an estimated 2,800 men in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Black men have the highest incidence rates of breast cancer (2.7 out of every 100,000 men), followed by White men (1.9 out of every 100,000 men). Black men with breast cancer typically have a lower chance of recovery.
It is estimated that 530 men will die from this disease in the United States in 2023.
What is the survival rate for male breast cancer?
There are different types of statistics that can help doctors evaluate a person’s chance of recovery from male breast cancer. These are called survival statistics. A specific type of survival statistic is called the relative survival rate. It is often used to predict how having cancer may affect life expectancy. Relative survival rate looks at how likely people with male breast cancer are to survive for a certain amount of time after their initial diagnosis or start of treatment compared to the expected survival of similar people without this cancer.
Example: Here is an example to help explain what a relative survival rate means. Please note this is only an example and not specific to this type of cancer. Let’s assume that the 5-year relative survival rate for a specific type of cancer is 90%. “Percent” means how many out of 100. Imagine there are 1,000 people without cancer, and based on their age and other characteristics, you expect 900 of the 1,000 to be alive in 5 years. Also imagine there are another 1,000 people similar in age and other characteristics as the first 1,000, but they all have the specific type of cancer that has a 5-year survival rate of 90%. This means it is expected that 810 of the people with the specific cancer (90% of 900) will be alive in 5 years.
It is important to remember that statistics on the survival rates for people with male breast cancer are only an estimate. They cannot tell an individual person if cancer will or will not shorten their life. Instead, these statistics describe trends in groups of people previously diagnosed with the same disease, including specific stages of the disease.
The 5-year relative survival rate for male breast cancer in the U.S. is 82%.
The survival rates for male breast cancer vary based on several factors. These include the stage of cancer, a person’s age and general health, and how well the treatment plan works.
If the cancer is located only in the breast, the 5-year relative survival rate of male breast cancer is 95%. About 47% of cases are diagnosed at this localized stage. If the cancer has spread to the regional lymph nodes, the 5-year relative survival rate is 83%. If the cancer has spread to a distant part of the body, the 5-year relative survival rate is 19%. Even if the cancer is found at a more advanced stage, new treatments help many people with breast cancer maintain a good quality of life for some time.
Experts measure relative survival rate statistics for male breast cancer every 5 years. This means the estimate may not reflect the results of advancements in how male breast cancer is diagnosed or treated from the last 5 years. Talk with your doctor if you have any questions about this information. Learn more about understanding statistics.
Statistics adapted from the American Cancer Society's (ACS) publications, Cancer Facts and Figures 2023 and Cancer Facts and Figures 2017, and the ACS website. (All sources accessed February 2023.)
The next section in this guide is Risk Factors. It describes the factors that may increase the chance of developing breast cancer. Use the menu to choose a different section to read in this guide.