Background/Aim: Exposure to ambient particulate matter is not uniformly distributed in urban environments. In addition, there is a social gradient in the population level susceptibility to the health effects of air pollution. Such disparities may result in vulnerable populations bearing a relatively greater burden of disease attributed to this exposure compared with the population at large. Methods: Using high resolution chemical transport modelling, blended with fixed-site monitoring data, of particulate matter of diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5), baseline health incidence rates and known health risk estimates, we implemented a health impact assessment methodology to estimate the burden of disease by quintile of socioeconomic status in the New South Wales Greater Metropolitan Region (GMR). Results: We found that for each health endpoint, there was an increasing burden of disease attributable to anthropogenic PM2.5 exposure with decreasing socioeconomic status in the GMR and subregions with the difference in burden exceeding the difference in baseline incidence. The areas with the lowest socioeconomic status had 50% more years of life lost (YLL) attributable to PM2.5 than the areas of highest socioeconomic status in the whole GMR. Conclusions: The disparity that we found in burden due to PM2.5 contributes to a growing body of evidence in the field of environmental justice and supports the need for policy to protect vulnerable communities from inequitable exposure to environmental hazards.