Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Strategic actions aimed at reducing the incidence of CVD are a public health priority and are focused on the optimization of risk factors, including hypertension, smoking, diabetes, and elevated cholesterol levels. However, prevalence of CVD cannot improve until all groups of the population are able to derive benefit of preventive and treatment measures. Lower socio-economic status (SES) is associated with higher prevalence of CVD risk factors and higher incidence of mortality from CVD. Higher CVD mortality in low SES individuals may be driven by disparities in standards of care. Though multiple markers of SES have been recognized, income and educational status appear to be the most important and most consistently associated with CVD.