Abstract Background Little is known on the association of plasma adiponectin with blood pressure (BP) changes in African Americans (AAs). We evaluated the associations between plasma adiponectin and BP progression among AAs. Methods We analyzed data from 1,184 participants without hypertension at baseline (2000–2004) with ≥1 follow-up visits in the Jackson Heart Study. We used robust Poisson regression to generate risk ratios (RRs) for BP progression (an increase by ≥1 BP stage) and incident hypertension. Results Over a median of 7 years, 71% progressed to higher BP stage and 65% developed hypertension. We found evidence of interaction by sex (P-interaction = 0.088). Compared with those in the lowest quartile (Q1), male participants in the highest adiponectin quartile (Q4) had reduced risks of BP progression (RR 0.76 [95% confidence interval, CI, 0.60–0.96]) and incident hypertension (RR 0.74 [95% CI 0.56–0.97]). After accounting for body mass index, this relation persisted among obese men (RR for the highest [vs. lowest] adiponectin quartile: 0.59 [95% CI 0.36–0.97] for incident hypertension, and 0.69 [95% CI 0.45–1.06] for BP progression). Among women, adiponectin was not associated with BP outcomes (RR [95% CI] for Q4 vs. Q1: 1.03 [0.86–1.23] and 1.01 [0.83–1.23] for BP progression and incident hypertension, respectively). Our findings were consistent across both the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) and Seventh Joint National Committee (JNC-7) BP categories. Conclusions In a large, community-based sample of AAs, higher adiponectin concentrations were associated with lower risks of BP progression and incident hypertension in men, but no significant association was observed in women.