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Background: The continuing global demographic and epidemiologic transitions signal an ever-increasing cancer burden over the next decades, particularly in low‐ and middle‐income countries, with over 20 million new cancer cases expected annually as early as 2025. So, the study is planned to see cancer awareness and help seeking behaviour among the urban community. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the age group of more than 18 years of participants residing in an urban field practice area of a tertiary care centre. Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) survey form was used to see the awareness which includes questions related to warning signs of cancer and help seeking barriers in the community Results: Among the participants, 91 (45.5%) responded lung cancer as commonest cancer among men and 158 (79%) responded breast cancer as commonest cancer among women. It was found in this study that 86% participants were aware that unexplained lump could be a warning sign of cancer followed by unexplained pain (68.5%), unexplained bleeding (67%) and unexplained weight loss (66.5%). Conclusion: It was revealed in our study that the participants had inadequate awareness of early warning signs of cancer. It was also observed that there were some help seeking barriers in the community for cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]