Objective We aimed to describe the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, its epidemiological characteristics, and to analyse the relationship of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and body mass index (BMI) with metabolic syndrome (MS) among staff at Southeast University. Methods The data from the overall physical examination of 1979 staff were analyzed.Results The crude prevalence of MS were 21.7%,26.4% and 14.2% in the whole population, men and women respectively. The standardized rates were 14.7%,19.0% and 9.4%. The prevalence of MS in men was significantly higher than that in women(Plt;0.05). Both abdominal obesity and visceral obesity were positively correlated with the prevalence of MS(r=0.295, 0.248, P=0.000). Conclusion The prevalence of MS among staff of Southeast University has shown a significant increase in 2006. WHR and BMI are both correlated with the prevalence of MS.