Inequitable access to care continues to hinder improvements in diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer. This review describes healthcare disparities in the changing landscape of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the United States, focusing on racial, ethnic, sex-based, and socioeconomic trends. Furthermore, strategies to address disparities, overcome challenges, and improve patient outcomes are proposed. Barriers exist across lung cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment regimens, varying by sex, age, race and ethnicity, geography, and socioeconomic status. Incidence and mortality rates of lung cancer are higher among Black men than White men, and incidences in young women are substantially greater than in young men. Disparities may be attributed to geographic differences in screening access, with correlating higher incidence and mortality rates in rural versus urban areas. Lower socioeconomic status is also linked to lower survival rates. Several strategies could help reduce disparities and improve outcomes. Current guidelines could improve screening eligibility by incorporating sex, race, and socioeconomic status variables. Patient and clinician education on screening guidelines and patient-level barriers to care are key, and biomarker testing is critical since ~ 70% of patients with NSCLC have an actionable biomarker. Timely diagnosis, staging, and comprehensive biomarker testing, including cell-free DNA liquid biopsy, may provide valuable treatment guidance for patients with NSCLC. Efforts to improve lung cancer screening and biomarker testing access, decrease bias, and improve education about screening and testing are needed to reduce healthcare disparities in NSCLC., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests Dr. Kurzrock reported receiving research funding from Boehringer Ingelheim, Debiopharm, Foundation Medicine, Genentech, Grifols, Guardant, Incyte, Konica Minolta, MedImmune, Merck Serono, OmniSeq, Pfizer, Sequenom, Takeda, and Top Alliance; receiving consultant and/or speaker fees and/or advisory board fees from Actuate Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bicara Therapeutics, Inc., Biological Dynamics, Caris, Datar Cancer Genetics, Eisai, EOM Pharmaceuticals, Iylon, Merck, NeoGenomics, Neomed, Pfizer, prosperdtx, Regeneron, Roche, TD2/Volastra, Turning Point Therapeutics, and XBiotech; having an equity interest in CureMatch, Inc. and IDbyDNA; serving on the board of CureMatch and CureMetrix, and being a cofounder of CureMatch.Dr. Chaudhuri reported receiving consultant and/or speaker fees and/or advisory board fees from Roche, Tempus, Geneoscopy, Illumina, Daiichi Sankyo, AstraZeneca, Myriad Genetics, Invitae, AlphaSights, DeciBio, Guidepoint, Agilent, DAVA Oncology, and Geneoscopy; having licensed technologies related to cancer biomarkers; and being a cofounder of Droplet Biosciences and LiquidCell Dx.Dr. Feller-Kopman reported receiving consultant fees from Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca.Dr. Florez is a consultant/advisor to AstraZeneca, Merck, DSI, Regeneron Janssen, Bristol Myers Squib, NeoGenomics, and Pfizer.Dr. Gorden reported receiving speaker fees from AstraZeneca.Dr. Wistuba reported receiving research funding to the institution from 4D Molecular Therapeutics, Adaptimmune, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Akoya Biosciences, Amgen, Bayer, EMD Serono, Genentech, Guardant Health, HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Iovance Biotherapeutics, Johnson & Johnson, Karus Therapeutics, MedImmune, Merck, Novartis, OncoPlex Diagnostics, Pfizer, Takeda, and Novartis; receiving personal research funding from Pfizer and Bayer; receiving grants/contracts from Asuragen, Genentech/Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca/MedImmune, HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Merck, and Guardant Health; and receiving consultant fees from AstraZeneca/MedImmune, Asuragen, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech/Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, Guardant Health, HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Merck, MSD Oncology, OncoCyte, Novartis, Flame Inc., Pfizer, Regeneron, Merus, and G1 Therapeutics., (© 2024. The Author(s).)