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Survival Rates for Breast Cancer
Survival rates are a way to measure how many people survive a certain type of cancer over time. They can’t tell you for sure if treatment will be successful, but they might help you better understand your prognosis (outlook).
What is a 5-year relative survival rate?
A relative survival rate compares people with the same type and stage of cancer to people in the overall population.
For example, if the 5-year relative survival rate for a specific type and stage of cancer is 90%, it means that, on average, people with that cancer are about 90% as likely to live for at least 5 years after being diagnosed, compared to people who don’t have that cancer.
Where do these numbers come from?
The American Cancer Society relies on information from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, maintained by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), to provide survival statistics for different types of cancer.
The SEER database tracks 5-year relative survival rates for breast cancer in the United States, based on how far the cancer has spread. The SEER database, however, does not group cancers by AJCC TNM stages (stage I, stage II, stage III, etc.). Instead, it groups cancers into localized, regional, and distant stages.
- Localized: There is no sign that cancer has spread outside of the breast.
- Regional: The cancer has spread outside the breast to nearby structures or lymph nodes.
- Distant: The cancer has spread to distant parts of the body such as the lungs, liver, or bones.
5-year relative survival rates for breast cancer
These numbers are based on women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2015 and 2021.
SEER stage |
5-year relative survival rate |
Localized* |
>99% |
Regional |
87% |
Distant |
32% |
All SEER stages combined |
92% |
*Localized stage only includes invasive cancer. It does not include ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).
Understanding the numbers
These numbers apply only to the stage of the cancer when it is first diagnosed. They do not apply later on if the cancer grows, spreads, or comes back after treatment.
These numbers don’t take everything into account. Survival rates are grouped based on how far the cancer has spread, but your age, overall health, how well the cancer responds to treatment, tumor grade, hormone receptor status, HER2 status, and other factors can also affect your outlook.
Treatments improve over time. Treatments improve over time, and these numbers are based on women who were diagnosed at least 5 years earlier.
Survival rates for women with triple-negative breast cancer are different from those above. See Triple-negative Breast Cancer.
Survival rates for women with inflammatory breast cancer are different from those above. See Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
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- References
Developed by the American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team with medical review and contribution by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2026. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2026.
Giaquinto AN, Sung H, Newman LA, et al. Breast cancer statistics 2024. CA Cancer J Clin. 2024;74(6):477-495.
Young JL Jr, Roffers SD, Ries LAG, Fritz AG, Hurlbut AA (eds). SEER Summary Staging Manual - 2000: Codes and Coding Instructions, National Cancer Institute, NIH Pub. No. 01-4969, Bethesda, MD, 2001.
Last Revised: July 23, 2026
American Cancer Society medical information is copyrighted material. For reprint requests, please see our Content Usage Policy.
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