Much time and money is spent on HIV/AIDS education each year. Yet, little research has quantified the level of HIV/AIDS knowledge and if education reduces high risk behavior. The purpose of this study was to determine the HIV/AIDS knowledge level of adults, and if these adults engage in behaviors that put them at risk for infection. Subjects ranged in age from 18 to 67 with a mean age of 27. The subjects (N=215) included 129 males and 86 females from the South Texas area who completed two surveys, one basic knowledge survey about the disease, and one behavior survey about participation in risky behaviors. The behavior survey used a five-point Likert scale ranging from high risk behavior to low risk behavior. The knowledge survey was a multiple choice test with five choices with only one correct response. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine differences in knowledge and behavior based on gender, marital status, education level, ethnicity, and religious participation. There was a significant difference between males and females in their behavior (F(df 1,123)=23.97, p<.05) with males having the riskier behavior, but there was no significant difference found in knowledge (F(df 1,123)=3.697, p<.05) based on gender. There was no significant difference found for either knowledge or behavior based on marital status (p>,05, F=.622 and F=2.088 respectively). No significant difference was found for either knowledge or behavior based on education level, with education levels varying from high school graduate to post graduate (knowledge F=.017, behavior F=.845). Ethnically the subjects were divided between Hispanics (N=111), Caucasians (N=62), African Americans (N=21), and Asians (N=12). Differences in behavior were found amoung the ethnicities, primarily between the Asian group who had low risk behaviors and the Caucasian group who had high risk behaviors. However, there was no significant difference in knowledge between the groups. The greatest difference in behavior was found for religious participation. Those subjects who participated in religious functions more than twice a week had substantially less risky behaviors than those who participated only 2-3 times per month. There was no difference in knowledge based on religious participation. In this study knowledge scores did not vary significantly based on the variables. Unfortunately, the average score was about 50% indicating the individuals surveyed had a low level of HIV/AIDS knowledge. Since differences in behavior were found, yet knowledge level was similarly low, behavior differences must be explained by other extraneous variables. Keyword(s): health promotion, research, wellness/disease prevention