HPV is extremely common in males. CDC data from 2013–2014 found that 45.2% of men aged 18–59 had a genital HPV infection, compared to 39.9% of women in the same age range. About one in four men (25.1%) carried a high-risk HPV type, the kind linked to cancer. A separate multinational study of asymptomatic men aged 18–70 found an even higher rate: 65.2% tested positive for genital HPV DNA.
Why Most Men Never Know They Have It
HPV rarely causes noticeable symptoms in men. Most infections produce no warts, no pain, and no visible changes. The virus can live on genital skin and in the throat without ever announcing itself, which is a big part of why prevalence is so high. Men pass it to partners and acquire new infections without realizing anything has changed.
When symptoms do appear, the most recognizable sign is genital warts: small bumps or clusters of bumps in the genital area that can be flat, raised, or cauliflower-shaped. These are caused by low-risk HPV types that do not cause cancer. High-risk types, the ones that can lead to cancer years later, almost never produce visible symptoms on their own.
No Routine Test Exists for Men
There is currently no approved clinical HPV test designed for men in the United States. Women get screened through cervical Pap tests and HPV co-testing, but no equivalent exists for male genital skin or the throat. The main reasons: most male infections clear on their own, the virus has limited survival on external genital skin compared to the cervix, and there isn’t yet enough evidence that routine male screening would change health outcomes at a population level.
One exception is emerging. The 2024 U.S. guidelines on anal cancer now recommend HPV testing for men at higher risk of anal cancer, particularly men who have sex with men and those who are immunocompromised. This is the first major move toward integrating male-specific HPV screening into clinical practice.
How Long Infections Last
The large HPV Infection in Men (HIM) Study, which followed over 4,000 men across multiple countries, found that most genital HPV infections in men clear relatively quickly. The median clearance time was about 5.9 months, and 75% of infections resolved within 12 months. HPV16, the single most dangerous high-risk type, took longer to clear, with a median of about 12 months. That slower clearance is part of what makes HPV16 more likely to cause problems down the line.
Unlike in women, there is no clear age pattern in HPV acquisition among men. Infection rates stay relatively flat across age groups from the late teens through the 50s and 60s, meaning men continue picking up new infections throughout their sexually active years. The prevalence of genital warts specifically peaks among men aged 25–29 and then decreases with age.
HPV-Related Cancers in Men
While most HPV infections clear without harm, persistent high-risk infections can cause cancer. The numbers are significant. Each year in the United States, about 13,600 cases of throat cancer (specifically oropharyngeal cancer) in men are attributed to HPV. That makes HPV-related throat cancer the most common HPV-caused cancer in men by a wide margin.
Anal cancer accounts for roughly 2,300 HPV-attributable cases per year in men, and penile cancer adds about 900 cases. In total, HPV is responsible for an estimated 16,800 or more cancer cases annually in American men. Oropharyngeal cancer in particular has been rising steadily over the past two decades, and HPV is now the primary driver of that trend.
Circumcision and HPV Risk
Circumcision provides measurable protection against genital HPV. A large randomized controlled trial in Kenya found that circumcised men had about 40% lower rates of new HPV infections over two years compared to uncircumcised men. Circumcised men also cleared existing infections roughly 50% faster. At the 24-month mark, HPV prevalence was 23.7% in the circumcised group versus 41.0% in the uncircumcised group.
The protection was strongest on the glans (the head of the penis), where the inner foreskin tissue that harbors HPV is removed during circumcision. There was no difference in infection rates on the penile shaft, which makes anatomical sense. Circumcision reduces but does not eliminate the risk.
How Vaccination Helps
The HPV vaccine is the most effective tool for preventing infection in men. Pooled data from randomized controlled trials show efficacy of about 90% against genital warts and 91–93% against precancerous anal lesions in men who had not yet been exposed to the targeted HPV types. The vaccine works best when given before sexual activity begins, which is why it’s recommended at ages 11–12, though it’s approved for males through age 26 (and in some cases up to 45).
Vaccination rates in males still lag behind those in females. Many men in their 30s and older were never offered the vaccine because early recommendations focused only on girls and women. For unvaccinated men in the recommended age range, the vaccine still offers meaningful protection, especially if prior exposure to all nine HPV types covered is unlikely.