Overall frequency of brain tumors: There were 97,944 brain tumors diagnosed per year on average from 2018-2022, or approximately 26 cases per 100,000 people that live in the US. Of these, 26% were malignant (25,773 cases) and #% were non-malignant, or approximately 7 malignant and 19 non-malignant cases per 100,000 people that live in the US. (Source: CBTRUS Report 2025)
Differences in brain tumor frequency by sex: More brain tumors are diagnosed in women (approximately 30 per 100,000 women in the US) as compared to men (approximately 22 per 100,000 men that live in the US). (Source: CBTRUS Report 2025)
Differences in brain tumor frequency by race/ethnicity: The highest frequency of new brain tumor diagnoses were in individuals who are non-Hispanic Black, where 11,672 cases are diagnosed per year on average (approximately 27 new cases per 100,000 people). The second highest frequency of new brain and other CNS tumor diagnoses is in individuals who are non-Hispanic White, where 67,509 cases are diagnosed per year on average (approximately 26 new cases per 100,000 people), followed by individuals who are Hispanic and any race (12,473 cases per year, and approximately 25 new cases per 100,000 people), non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native (655 cases per year, and approximately 24 case per 100,000 people), and non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander (4,516 cases per year, and approximately 20 cases per 100,000 people). (Source: CBTRUS Report 2025)
The overall number of people living with a brain or other CNS tumor (also known as ‘prevalence‘) at the end of 2019 for was estimated to be 1,323,121 cases, of which 14% were malignant (195,048 cases). (Source: Neff, et al. 2023.)
New cases of malignant brain tumors globally: It is estimated that 321,731 new cases of primary malignant brain and other CNS tumors were diagnosed in the world in 2022. This represents 3.5 new cases per 100,000 people. These tumors were diagnosed more commonly in men (173,699 total cases, or approximately 4 per 100,000 men globally) than women (148,032 total cases, or approximately 3 per 100,000 women globally).(Source: GLOBOCAN).
On average, there are 17,637 deaths due to primary brain tumors in the United States every year, or approximately 4 deaths per 100,000 people in the US. This represents an average of 48 deaths per day (Source: CBTRUS Report 2025.)
In 2018, a total of 379,695 years of expected life were lost due to early death attributed to brain and other CNS tumors. On average, each death due to malignant tumors resulted in 21.2 lost years of expected life (96% of all deaths), while deaths due to non-malignant tumors result in a mean YLL of 14.2 (Source: Gerstl, et al. 2025).
For more information see CBTRUS tumor type specific factsheets and the following publications and resources: