Elevated blood pressure (BP) among children and adolescents is a growing public health concern. Children have been shown to maintain their blood pressure pattern into adulthood. Identifying and monitoring asymptomatic adolescents is important for early detection of target organ damage. This study sought to determine the prevalence and risk factors for elevated BP in adolescent secondary school students. A cross-sectional multi-staged sampling of 420 adolescents aged 10-18 years, recruited from four private and four public secondary schools in urban and rural areas of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, was conducted. Written informed consent and assent were obtained from parents of and the participating adolescents respectively. A semi-structured intervieweradministered questionnaire was used to obtain information on family socio-economic status, the adolescents’ past medical history, socio-demographic characteristics and certain risk factors. Adolescent BP were measured according to the recommendations of the 4th Task Force on Blood Pressure Control in children and adolescents, while parental (both parents as much as possible) BP were assessed using the 7th Joint National Committee criteria. Data analysis was with Epi info 3.5.4. The independent t-test was used to compare means of quantitative variables while Chi square (or Fischer’s exact test where applicable) was used to compare categorical variables. Variables significantly associated with elevated BP were further subjected to multiple logistic regression analysis. Two hundred and fifty (59.5%) females and 170 (40.5%) males participated in the study. The mean age of the study population was 14.27 ± 1.9 years with no significant gender difference (p=0.8). The mean SBP and DBP BP of the adolescents were 100.09±10.2 mmHg and 64.77±8.88 mmHg respectively. Majority (52.6%) of the participants were within the 14-16-year age group. Thirtyeight (9.0%) subjects had elevated BP with no significant gender difference (7.1% for males, 10.4% for females, p=0.24). The prevalence of pre-hypertension was 7.3% and hypertension 1.7%. Elevated BP was significantly more prevalent among adolescents living in rural (14.9%) compared to urban areas (3.6%) p=0.001, those attending day (11.9%) compared to boarding (2.4%) schools (p=0.002) and in those with hypertensive (12.9%) compared with normotensive (3.5%) parents (p=0.02).The prevalence of elevated BP also differed significantly between the different adolescent age groups, being highest in 14-16 year-olds (11.3 %) and lowest in 10-13 year-olds (2.6 %) p=0.003, and between the BMI categories being highest in the obese group (37.5%), p=0.001.