Background: New cardiovascular (CV) risk factors have been studied (including social determinants of health - SDHs) that seems to influence the incidence of CV events, life expectancy and mortality rate. Objective: To evaluate the SDHs associated with high blood pressure (BP) in young adults living in the area of a primary care unit in Rio de Janeiro. Methods: Cross-sectional population study to assess the CV risk of adults aged between 20 and 50 years old. Sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements and CV risk factors were recorded. Pressure and HBPM were recorded. The race was self-declared. Low education was defined as having completed primary education or less. Those with formal or informal employment were considered to have a job. Results: 483 individuals, 299 (62%) female with an average age of 37 ± 9 years. Non-whites people comprised 52% of the sample. 108 individuals (21%) have low education and 98 (20%) do not have a job. Sedentary lifestyle (44%), dyslipidemia (43%), obesity (26%) and hypertension (26%) were the most prevalent risk factors. Abdominal obesity was more prevalent among women (45% vs 26%) and high BP (33% vs 21%) and smoking (18% vs 9%) among men. Black people are older and have less education (24% vs 18%), but race had no relationship with BP levels. Lack of employment was more common among women (79% vs 58%) and in logistic regression it practically doubled the risk of hypertension (OR 1.76, 95%CI 1.02-3.04, p=0.042). Low education was prevalent among older men and logistic regression showed that it doubled the risk of smoking (OR 2.17: 95%CI 1.15-4.08, p=0.016) and high BP (OR 1. 82, 95%CI 1.10-3.03, p=0.021). Lack of employment was more common among women and was not associated with CV risk factors. Conclusion: Low education and lack of employment were the main social determinants of health associated with high BP.