State Cancer Profiles

Interpretation of Incidence Rates Data

Incidence Rate Report for Massachusetts by County

All Cancer Sites (All Stages^), 2017-2021

All Races (includes Hispanic), Both Sexes, Ages <65

Sorted by Rate

Explanation of Column Headers

Objective - The objective of *** is from the Healthy People 2020 project done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Incidence Rate (95% Confidence Interval) - The incidence rate is based upon 100,000 people and is an annual rate (or average annual rate) based on the time period indicated. Rates are age-adjusted by 5-year age groups to the 2000 U.S. standard million population.

Recent Trends - This is an interpretation of the AAPC/APC:

• Rising when 95% confidence interval of AAPC/APC is above 0.
• Stable when 95% confidence interval of AAPC/APC includes 0.
• Falling when 95% confidence interval of AAPC/APC is below 0.

AAPC/APC (95% Confidence Interval) - the change in rate over time

• Average Annual Percent Change - AAPCs are based upon APCs that were calculated by Joinpoint Regression Program
• Annual Percent Change - APCs calculated in SEER*Stat.

Other Notes

• Larger confidence intervals indicate less stability of the data. This is often due to low counts that are not quite low enough to be suppressed.
• Data is currently being suppressed if there are fewer than 16 counts for the time period.

Line by Line Interpretation of the Report

Massachusetts⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : N/A
• Rate : The incidence rate is 215.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 214.0 to 217.2 and 16,070 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : N/A
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.6 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.2 to -1.2.

US (SEER+NPCR)¹

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : N/A
• Rate : The incidence rate is 222.9 with a 95% confidence interval from 222.7 to 223.2 and 734,330 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : N/A
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is -0.3 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.7 to 0.0.

Berkshire County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 235.1 with a 95% confidence interval from 223.2 to 247.6 and 352 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 1 (1, 6)
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is 0.1 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.3 to 4.4.

Plymouth County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 232.3 with a 95% confidence interval from 226.5 to 238.2 and 1,384 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 2 (1, 5)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.5 with a 95% confidence interval from -5.7 to -0.9.

Bristol County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 228.7 with a 95% confidence interval from 223.2 to 234.3 and 1,442 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 3 (1, 5)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -0.7 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.2 to -0.1.

Worcester County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 227.2 with a 95% confidence interval from 222.8 to 231.8 and 2,158 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 4 (1, 6)
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is -0.2 with a 95% confidence interval from -0.5 to 0.2.

Norfolk County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 223.9 with a 95% confidence interval from 219.0 to 228.8 and 1,758 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 5 (2, 7)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.5 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.4 to -1.1.

Hampden County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 218.3 with a 95% confidence interval from 212.2 to 224.6 and 1,063 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 6 (4, 9)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -0.5 with a 95% confidence interval from -0.8 to -0.2.

Essex County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 217.9 with a 95% confidence interval from 213.3 to 222.5 and 1,909 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 7 (5, 9)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -5.1 with a 95% confidence interval from -8.1 to -1.8.

Barnstable County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 215.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 206.5 to 225.0 and 572 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 8 (4, 9)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -3.9 with a 95% confidence interval from -6.3 to -1.2.

Suffolk County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 202.4 with a 95% confidence interval from 197.7 to 207.3 and 1,468 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 9 (9, 13)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -2.7 with a 95% confidence interval from -3.5 to -2.2.

Middlesex County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 201.4 with a 95% confidence interval from 198.3 to 204.5 and 3,413 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 10 (9, 13)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -4.1 with a 95% confidence interval from -5.4 to -3.4.

Franklin County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Rural
• Rate : The incidence rate is 201.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 186.5 to 216.5 and 170 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 11 (6, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is -0.7 with a 95% confidence interval from -1.6 to 0.1.

Hampshire County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Urban
• Rate : The incidence rate is 196.7 with a 95% confidence interval from 186.3 to 207.6 and 310 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 12 (9, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -1.3 with a 95% confidence interval from -2.0 to -0.6.

Nantucket County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Rural
• Rate : The incidence rate is 181.0 with a 95% confidence interval from 151.6 to 214.9 and 28 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 13 (6, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is stable because the trend is -20.6 with a 95% confidence interval from -41.4 to 0.0.

Dukes County⁷

• 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes Φ : Rural
• Rate : The incidence rate is 180.6 with a 95% confidence interval from 155.2 to 209.5 and 44 average annual cases over 2017-2021.
• CI*Rank ⋔ : 14 (8, 14)
• Recent Trend : The trend is falling because the trend is -11.9 with a 95% confidence interval from -24.4 to -3.1.

Notes:
Created by statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov on 07/04/2025 2:56 am.

State Cancer Registries may provide more current or more local data.
† Incidence rates (cases per 100,000 population per year) are age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population (19 age groups: <1, 1-4, 5-9, ... , 80-84, 85+). Rates are for invasive cancer only (except for bladder cancer which is invasive and in situ) or unless otherwise specified. Rates calculated using SEER*Stat. Population counts for denominators are based on Census populations as modified by NCI. The US Population Data File is used for SEER and NPCR incidence rates.
Rates and trends are computed using different standards for malignancy. For more information see malignant.html.

^ All Stages refers to any stage in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Summary/Historic Combined Summary Stage (2004+).
Φ Rural-Urban Continuum Codes provided by the USDA.
Source: SEER and NPCR data. For more specific information please see the table.

Data for the United States does not include data from Indiana.
Data for the United States does not include Puerto Rico.