Who gets breast cancer?

Anyone with breast tissue can get breast cancer, including men. About 1 in 8 U.S. women and 1 in 726 U.S. men will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of their lives.

In 2025, the American Cancer Society estimates:

• 316,950 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in U.S. women
• 59,080 new cases of noninvasive breast cancer (ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS) will be diagnosed in U.S. women
• 2,800 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in U.S. men

An estimated 42,170 women and 510 men will lose their lives to metastatic breast cancer.

People of all ethnicities get breast cancer. People with different lifestyle habits develop breast cancer. People with breast cancer can be fit or overweight, vegetarians or meat-eaters, regular exercisers, or “couch potatoes.”

What all people with breast cancer have in common are gene changes, called mutations, in the DNA of their breast cells. DNA makes up the genes of a cell. It carries a set of directions that tell cells when to grow and how to stop growing.

Genetic mutations that increase the risk of breast cancer can sometimes be inherited from your mother or father. But more often, genetic mutations involved in breast cancer develop in cells after a person is born. We are still learning about the causes of these mutations and why people get them.

Breast cancer is less common in:

• Women whose menstrual periods started at a later age
• Women whose menopause started early
• Women who had children before age 30
• Women who breastfed
• People who exercise
• People who are not overweight

Many of these factors are not things that can be controlled. And even if some of these factors apply to you, they do not prevent breast cancer—they only provide some protection from developing it.

You may be asking yourself, “Why me? What did I do to bring on this breast cancer?” It is normal to have these questions. It's important to know that there is no single cause of breast cancer. There is nothing you did or missed doing that caused you to develop breast cancer.

On this page, we'll share additional facts and statistics about who gets breast cancer. You can also learn more on our Breast cancer statistics page.

Age

Women of all ages, including very young women in their 20s and 30s, can develop breast cancer. But your risk increases with age, so the older you are, the more likely you are to develop breast cancer. Most women who are diagnosed with breast cancer are age 50 or older.

Ethnicity

People of all ethnicities get breast cancer, but diagnosis and survival rates can be different:

• Breast cancer is diagnosed more often in white women.
• In women under age 40, breast cancer is more common in Black women than white women. Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer at almost every age.
• Black women have lower rates of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer and higher rates of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer than white women.
• In Black women, there is also a 19% chance that a breast cancer will be triple-negative. Triple-negative breast cancer does not have estrogen, progesterone, or HER2 receptors. It is more aggressive than other breast cancers.
• American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian American/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic women have a lower risk of developing breast cancer than other racial and ethnic groups.
• Asian American/Pacific Islander and Hispanic women have a lower risk of dying from breast cancer than other groups.
• Approximately 1 in 40 people of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry carry a harmful mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which are linked to higher rates of breast and ovarian cancer.

Genetics & family risk

Most people diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history of the disease.

But some people are born with inherited genetic mutations—gene changes passed down from a parent—that can increase the risk of developing hereditary breast cancer. Inherited genetic mutations related to breast cancer include BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, and many others.

Genetic testing for inherited mutations is now recommended for almost everyone diagnosed with breast cancer. Here are some reasons why:

• People who test positive for a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation may be eligible to take medicines called PARP inhibitors.
• Testing for inherited genetic mutations may give your doctors more information about the breast cancer.
• Testing can also provide other members of your family information on their chances of developing cancer.
• If you test positive for an inherited mutation that increases the risk of breast cancer, you may qualify for certain clinical trials. These could include trials studying treatments for breast cancer in people with inherited genetic mutations.

For more information, visit Genetic testing for inherited mutations.