Context: The unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic led to new stressors on the health and well-being of individuals and communities. From early on in the pandemic, “essential workers” were publicly acknowledged to be more vulnerable to exposure to the virus due to their work activities. Within primary care, it is imperative to identify specific patients at increased risk for psychosocial stressors in an effort to better assist and support them. Objective: Assess whether primary care patients who self-identify themselves or a close family member as an “essential worker” had higher rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study Design: Cross- sectional survey. Setting: Participants (N=118) were recruited from three university-affiliated primary care clinics in Dallas, Texas. Population studied: Eligible participants were adult, established primary care patients at three separate Family Medicine primary care clinic sites, who had an appointment within 6 months of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States (March 2020). Instrument: Self-administered electronic surveys included questions about demographics, experiences related to COVID-19, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Outcome Measures: Anxiety and depressive symptoms as measured by the GAD-7 and PHQ-9 questionnaires respectively. Results: Two independent t-test showed that for both the GAD-7 ( t[2, 114] = -.352, p = .725) and the PHQ-9 ( t[2, 114] = -1.00, p = .318) there were no significant differences between non-essential (n=42, GAD-7M = 5.17, PHQ-9M = 5.29) and essential workers (n=74, GAD-7M = 5.51, PHQ-9M = 6.36). Conclusions: On average, essential workers reported higher scores on both the GAD-7 and PHQ-9, however, there were no significant differences in scores as compared to those who were not essential workers. It is possible that the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was equivalent for non-essential and essential workers or that these individuals were impacted in ways not captured in this study. Further research is needed to determine if a significant difference exists over time or in other geographic locations. Primary care physicians should continue to address the mental health of all patients regardless of their job classification.