Abstract: Objective To understand the mental health status of residents in Bozhou city and to provide reference for mental health education among them.Methods Overall 952 residents at age of 18 and above were randomly chosen with cluster-based sampling method and investigated by SCL-90.Results About 33.4% of the residents were likely to have mental health problems.All factors of SCL-90 were higher significantly than that of national norm (P<0.01).The elderly,the poor and the residents of low level of education had more mental health problems relatively.Conclusion The residents of Bozhou had poor mental health level than national common population.The gender,age,education and economic level have impacts on mental health of the residents.