AbstractThis study aimed to identify sociodemographic and academic factors associated with unhealthy lifestyles among Brazilian undergraduate nursing students. A cross‐sectional study was completed by 286 nursing students in Brazil. Multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine the association between sociodemographic and academic variables with the latent lifestyle indicator. The model fit's validity was assessed using Akaike information coefficient estimation, Hosmer–Lemeshow test, and the ROC curve. A high health risk lifestyle was 2.7 times more likely among students aged 18–24 years than students aged 25 years or older (OR = 2.7, 95% CI = [1.18, 6.54] p = 0.02); 2.3 times more likely among students with ≥400 h of semester time (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = [0.93, 5.90], p = 0.07); and 3.8 times more likely among female students (OR = 3.8, 95% CI = [0.82, 8.12], p = 0.09). A moderate health risk lifestyle was 1.8 times more likely among students from the 6th to 10th semesters (OR = 1.8, 95% CI = [−0.95, 3.75], p = 0.07). Sociodemographic and academic factors were associated with unhealthy lifestyles. Health promotion efforts are necessary to improve nursing students' health behaviors.