While total body mass has been recognized for many years as having a strong positive association with blood pressure, it is not known whether body mass per se is important in this association or if a component of total mass, such as lean body mass or total body fat, is responsible for the relationship. To determine the relative importance of these components, 217 healthy adults unselected with respect to blood pressure or body composition, who were 18 to 49 years of age (X +/- sd = 33.1 +/- 8.9 years) had body density measured by underwater weighing. Body density was used to estimate percent body fat from which lean body mass and total body fat mass were determined. In addition, an adipose tissue biopsy from the gluteal area was made, and average fat cell size was measured using the osmium tetroxide method; fat cell number was then estimated. In both males and females, after adjusting for age, there were highly significant, positive partial correlations (r = 0.2 to 0.3) between measures of blood pressure (systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial) and percent body fat, total body fat mass or fat cell number. No significant correlation existed between lean body mass or fat cell size and any measure of blood pressure. These findings suggest that fat mass as opposed to body mass, per se, may be an important etiological component in elevated blood pressure in adults.