OBJECTIVES: To compare the health related quality of life (HRQOL) between adults of low-income families and sex-age matched subjects of the general population in Hong Kong, and to explore factors associated with poor HRQOL in people from low-income families.   METHODS: A cross sectional health survey on 315 Chinese adults from low-income families was carried out in 2012 in Hong Kong. Each adult answered the Chinese (Hong Kong) SF-12v2 Health Survey and a structured questionnaire on socio-demographic & morbidity characteristics. Mean SF-12v2 domain and summary scores of the subjects were compared with those of age-sex matched subjects randomly selected from a database of 2,764 Chinese adults from the Hong Kong general population (ratio: 1:2), and the difference was tested by independent t-test. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to determine any independent association between low income and HRQOL, and to explore factors associated with poor HRQOL in people from low income families.     RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: Extreme low household income was independently associated with poorer physical and mental health-related HRQOL.