The role of socio-economic factors for the risk of developing TB is unclear. Differences and similarities between cases and controls on various socio-economic factors were determined. Some 84 black TB patients on ambulatory treatment and 84 disease free controls living in the same urban area (South Africa) and matched for age and sex were studied. Variables measured were demographic details, general living conditions, household ownership of luxury items and, weekly consumption of four proteins (meat, fish, chicken & cheese). Three socio-economic indices were constructed from the above variables. No significant differences were found between cases and controls on most of the variables. Overall, significant differences were found on the pattern of language groups (chi-square; p= 0.031) employment groups (chi-square; p= 0.029) and meat (chi-square; p= 0.012) and chicken consumption (chi-square; p=0.034). A tendency was observed for more employed cases than controls to have a primary school education. However, no conclusive evidence was found on the association between socio-economic factors and risk of developing TB. The development of a more appropriate socio-economic measure for developing countries is a necessary step for further research.