Introduction: Black adults are disproportionately burdened by poor cardiovascular health, and Black women bear the brunt of this disparity. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) disparities among Black women have been attributed to chronic exposure to psychosocial stressors and the cumulative “wear and tear” of these stressors on the body (i.e., allostatic load). Financial strain has been linked to both higher allostatic load and CVD risk. We aimed to determine whether allostatic load (AL) mediates the relationship between financial strain and cumulative CVD risk among Black women. Methods: This study utilized longitudinal data from the Black participants in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN). We conducted a causal mediation analysis with fourfold decomposition to determine if the relationship between long-term financial strain and subclinical CVD was mediated by AL. The study outcome was defined as the presence of any indicator of subclinical CVD from carotid ultrasounds conducted in visit 12/13: carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) ≥ 75 th percentile of the study sample, carotid adventitial diameter (cAD) ≥ 75 th percentile of the study sample, or plaque index (a measure of number and size of plaques) >2. Long-term financial strain was defined as reporting “money problems” or “difficulty paying for basics” at >50% of the 6 most recent visits prior to the carotid ultrasound. AL was calculated using a validated summary score method based on 10 component measures from visit 12: systolic and diastolic blood pressure, serum glucose, BMI, triglycerides, C-reactive protein, HDL-C, total cholesterol, waist-to-hip ratio, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate. AL was considered “high” if the score was ≥75 th percentile of the study sample. Results: Of the 390 Black women in our sample [Mean (SD) age at subclinical CVD visit = 60.0 (2.7)], 42.3% had subclinical CVD (24.9% with cIMT or cAD, 9.7% with plaque), 56.9% reported long-term financial strain, and 38.0% had high AL. Both long-term financial strain (β=0.132, p <0.01) and high AL (β=0.134, p <0.01) were associated with a significantly higher likelihood of subclinical CVD. However, causal mediation analysis indicated that the effect of long-term financial strain on subclinical CVD was not mediated by AL (β=0.004, p =0.66). Conclusions: Though higher AL is associated with higher CVD risk among Black women, it did not mediate the causal relationship between long-term financial strain and CVD risk in these midlife women. Future research should examine the pathways by which financial strain and AL influence premature cardiovascular weathering among midlife Black women and explore potential large-scale interventions.