OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the prevalence of cancer and calculate annual health care expenditures for patients self-reported with cancer using a large US database.  METHODS: The 2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a nationally representative survey of the US population was used to evaluate the prevalence and health care expenditure for patients self-reported with cancer. All patients over 17 years of age and diagnosed with any type of cancer was included in the study. The data was descriptively evaluated based on patient demographics and insurance type. RESULTS: The total patient population identified in this study was 36,855. Of these, 2,113 (5.7%) patients were diagnosed with some type of cancer. The study identified 27 different types of cancers and the top three highly prevalent cancers were: breast cancer (0.91%), skin non-melanoma (0.88%) and prostate cancer (0.69%). The cancers that were more common in females than in males were bone, larynx, lymphoma, soft tissue, pancreas, stomach and thyroid. The mean patient total income reported was $29,583±20,696 and the median income was $20,512. The mean total family income reported was $56,254±52,729 and the median was $39,646. The highest mean total health care charges were for rectum ($92,022±146,618), pancreas ($64,040±62,297) and leukemia ($54,193±84,300). The mean total amount reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid, and Private Health Insurance for all cancer types were $4,719±12,589, $1,209±7,106 and $3,415±11,043 respectively. The mean total amount paid by patient out of the total health care charges was $1,271±3,342. The mean total percentage paid by Medicare, Medicaid and Private Health Insurance out of total health care charges for all cancer types were 19.06%, 4.88% and 13.79% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of cancer among the overall population was higher than the literature findings. Cancer continues to be significant economic burden to both payer and the patient.