Introduction Tanzania is the country that was the hardest hit by the HIV epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. The present study was carried out to examine the risk factors of HIV infection among women who lived in an urban area in Tanzania.

Methods The Tanzania HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator Survey (2011–12) data has been used. The sample size for urban and rural women who were tested for HIV and ever had sex was 2227 and 6210 respectively. Bivariate and multivariate analyses like logistic regression analyses were used.

Results The present study found that rural women were significantly less likely to be HIV-infected compared to urban women (OR = 0.612, p < 0.00). About 10% urban women were HIV-infected whereas 5.8% women in rural areas were HIV positive. Those women who had more than five sex partners were significantly four times more likely to be HIV-infected compared to women had one sex partner (OR = 4.49, p < 0.00).

Conclusion The present study results suggested that less-educated women, women belong to poor or poorer quintile, women spent night outside, had more sex partners were significantly more likely to had HIV infection among urban women compared to rural women. There is an urgent need for a short and effective program to control the HIV epidemic in urban areas of Tanzania especially for less-educated urban women.

Disclosure of interest Nothing to Disclose.