Objective To examine whether the employees of an oil and gas company in Shaanxi Province are more vulnerable to hypertension than the general residents, aged 18-60, living in the same geographical region. Design Cross-sectional analysis of the hypertension prevalence of two different population by using propensity score matching (PSM). Participants Employees of Changqing Oil Field Filiale took part in Health Risk Factors Survey (2013) and residents took part in the National Health Service Survey (2013) in Shaanxi Province, China. Main outcome measures The primary outcome was hypertention which was defined as systolic blood pressure of at least 140 mm Hg, or diastolic blood pressure of at least 90 mm Hg, or self-reported antihypertensive medication use in the previous 2 weeks, or self-reported history of hypertention. Results Changqing employees were much younger, with a higher proportion of men, and their lifestyle was less healthy, with higher BMI, more drinkers and smokers. Before PSM, hypertension prevalence of Changqing employees was slightly lower than Shaanxi residents (5.8% vs 7.6%). After PSM, the results of the adjusted logistic model showed that Changqing employees were more likely to be hypertensive (OR =1.10, 95% CI =1.02-1.19, P =0.01). Among the male samples, Changqing employees were more likely to be hypertensive (OR =1.43, 95% CI =1.31-1.58, P Conclusion Changqing’s employees, as a whole, and male employees in particular, were more vulnerable to hypertension than the general residents of the region. However, the reverse was found for female employees.