10 Counties With the Highest Cancer Rates in Michigan

A disturbing cluster of counties have the highest rates of cancer in Michigan.  Why is one area of Michigan experiencing such high rates of cancer?

Here in Southwest Michigan, we seemed to have much lower cancer rates than most counties in the state.  Ranking counties with number 1 having the highest cancer rates and #83 having the lowest cancer rates:

• #43 Cass
• #47 Calhoun
• #50 Van Buren
• Allegan, Kalamazoo, Branch, and St. Joeseph counties had to few reports to show up in the top 50.

Stacker recently released a report they compiled using CDC data comparing cancer rates in each Michigan county.  There are many reasons why a certain County may have higher rates of cancer than another.  Many economic, social, and environmental factors must be considered along with industries of employment according to Stacker,

Cancer rates also fluctuate by jobs: Higher rates of cancer can be found among the meat industry, rubber manufacturing workers, and farmers.

Below you'll find the 10 counties with the highest cancer rates out of 83 Michigan counties.

Click here to see the 50 counties in Michigan with the highest cancer rates.

The most eye-opening aspect of this report is the cluster of counties among the 10 highest cancer rate counties of Michigan.  You'll notice in the graphic below that all 10 of the highest cancer rate counties are in the Northern half of Michigan.  Seven of those counties are clustered together: Montmorency, Oscoda, Alcona, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, and Gladwin counties.

We recently covered a story about how the Fruit of the Loom company allegedly devasted a couple of small Michigan towns back in 1973 with one of the largest chemical poisonings in world history.  However, tragedy didn't take place in any of the top 10 counties in this report.  So what's causing high cancer rates in this one area of Michigan?  Could it be a lack of healthcare or is this an environmental issue?

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