Objective　To investigate and analyze the mental health status of the students from poor families and non poor students by comparative study. Methods　Conducting the cluster sampling methods， the author investigated 885 medical students with questionnaires. We input data with Epidata 3.0 software and described it with SPSS 11.0 statistical software， which also did the nonparametric rank sum test. Results　92.7%（667/719） students from poor families considered their economic status among the general level or much lower level. There were 41.9%（294/702） students from poor families who thought families' financial difficulties had positive effects on mental health. 92.3%（664/719） students from poor families were never afraid that people around knew they were in work study program. 87.5%（629/719） students from poor families were satisfied with their life. Facing psycholog ical problems， there's no difference with dissatisfaction in daily life and recourses for help between students from poor families and non poor students except psychological consultation center and lovers P >0.05）. Conclusion　Compared with non poor students， the mental health of students from poor families in medical universities is good. The universities are supposed to pay more attention to the mental health of students who are neither poor nor non poor and few students from poor families who are negatively impacted by their families' financial difficulties.