Study objective: The study objective was to determine, first, the association between men's and women's chest pain and their socio-economic status (occupation, smoking) and, secondly, the association between their socio-economic status and self-rated health, in a primary health care area. Design and setting: A population-based cross-sectional survey was made in a primary health care area of Sweden. Primarily based on occupation according to Swedish standards, 4,238 men and women were divided into two socio-economic groups; blue-collar and white-collar workers. Methods: Odds ratios with 95% Cl were calculated by multivariate logistic regression, controlling for the variable age as confounding factor. Student's t-test was used to compare self-rated health, and the chi (2)-test to determine any difference in smoking habits between the two groups. Main results: Both male and female blue-collar workers showed significantly more chest pain when excited than white-collar workers. In six of eight health indices, they also reported significantly worse self-rated health than the white-collar workers. Conclusions: These findings show that there are socio-economic inequalities in self-reported chest pain. Furthermore, socio-economic status has a major influence on self-rated health, acting across the working life of both sexes.