Background: The aim of this study was to assess the predictive capacity of body fat percentage (%BF) estimated by equations using body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) to identify hypertension and estimate measures of association between high %BF and hypertension in adults. Methods. This is a cross-sectional population-based study conducted with 1,720 adults (20-59 years) from Florianopolis, southern Brazil. The area under the ROC curve, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios of cutoffs for %BF were calculated. The association between %BF and hypertension was analyzed using Poisson regression, estimating the unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratios and 95% CI. Results: The %BF equations showed good discriminatory power for hypertension (area under the ROC curve > 0.50). Considering the entire sample, the cutoffs for %BF with better properties for screening hypertension were identified in the equation with BMI for men (%BF = 20.4) and with WC for women (%BF = 34.1). Adults with high %BF had a higher prevalence of hypertension. Conclusions: The use of simple anthropometric measurements allowed identifying the %BF, diagnosing obesity, and screening people at risk of hypertension in order to refer them for more careful diagnostic evaluation. © 2012 Silva et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.