What Are the Leading Causes of Death in the United States?

Every year, the federal government counts every death in the country and records its cause. These numbers show what is most likely to end a life in America, how that has changed, and where prevention matters most. The figures here are the CDC’s final data for 2024, the most recent full year available.

How many people died in the United States in 2024?

A total of 3,072,666 people died, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). That is 18,298 fewer deaths than in 2023. The age-adjusted death rate fell by almost 4 percent, to 722.1 deaths per 100,000 people. “Age-adjusted” means the rate is adjusted so that a country with more older people is not unfairly compared with one that has fewer.

What were the leading causes of death?

Here are the top seven, with the number of deaths in 2024 from CDC FastStats:

Rank	Cause	Deaths
1	Heart disease	683,491
2	Cancer	619,876
3	Accidents (unintentional injuries)	197,449
4	Stroke	166,852
5	Chronic lower respiratory diseases	145,643
6	Alzheimer’s disease	116,022
7	Diabetes	94,445

Together, the ten leading causes accounted for 70.9 percent of all deaths in 2024. Heart disease alone accounted for about 22 percent (683,491 of 3,072,666 deaths).

What changed from the year before?

Not much, with one notable exception. The CDC reports that suicide replaced COVID-19 as the 10th leading cause of death, and that heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injuries stayed in the top three. Life expectancy rose from 78.4 years in 2023 to 79.0 years in 2024, a record high, largely because deaths from unintentional injuries, COVID-19, heart disease, cancer, and homicide decreased. Drug overdose death rates dropped 26.2 percent, from 31.3 to 23.1 per 100,000.

Do the leading causes differ by age?

Yes, a great deal. The list above covers all ages together, and older adults make up most deaths. The CDC publishes a separate ranking for each age group, and the order looks very different from the national list. For a related look at who dies and when, see What Is the Most Common Age to Die in America?.

How is a cause of death decided?

By a doctor, medical examiner, or coroner, who writes it on the death certificate. NCHS builds these statistics from death certificates collected from every county in the country. Each death is assigned one “underlying cause,” which is the disease or injury that started the chain of events leading to death, using a standard international list of causes. This is why the statistics can seem simpler than real life: a person with heart disease, diabetes, and kidney trouble has just one underlying cause counted. For how causes are decided in unclear cases, see Coroner vs. Medical Examiner, and for the paper itself, Getting Death Certificates.

What does “died of old age” mean in these statistics?

It does not appear as a cause. Doctors usually record the specific condition that caused the death, such as heart failure or dementia. What Does Dying of Old Age Actually Mean? explains why.

How do these numbers compare with the past?

The leading causes have changed a great deal over the last century. Infectious diseases once caused far more deaths, and chronic diseases now dominate. For the long view, see How the Life Expectancy of Americans Changed Over the Last Century.