Objective To survey the quality of life of patients with headache in the northern part of Xinjiang. Methods Adults in the Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture and Barkol Kazak Autonomous Countywere randomly selected. The headache and quality of life were measured by the EPI sampling technique establishedby WHO. Results Totals of 252 participants were involved. In the past one year，99 patients (39.3%) suffered from headache，including 19(7.5%) ones with migraine，28(11.1%) with tension headache，6(2.4%) with chron-ic headache and 46(18.3%) under unclear diagnosis. Compared with the non-headache group，the total score of quality of life of the headache group was lower ［(27.25±3.72) vs (29.01±3.68)，P ＜0.01］，which was manifested in aspects of health status，daily living ability，self-esteem and economic source. Logistic multi-ple regression analysis showed that gender and occupation affected the quality of life of patients with headache. Conclusions The prevalence rate of headache in the northern area of Xinjiang Province is 39.3%，and the pa-tients’quality of life is poor. Gender and occupation are main factors influencing the quality of life of the patients with headache.