Background A growing body of evidence suggests that work–family conflict is an important risk factor for workers' health and well-being. The goal of this study is to examine association between work–family conflict and musculoskeletal pain among hospital patient care workers. Methods We analyzed a cross-sectional survey of 1,119 hospital patient care workers in 105 units in two urban, academic hospitals. Work–family conflict was measured by 5-item Work–Family Conflict Scale questionnaire. Multilevel logistic regression was applied to examine associations between work–family conflict and self-reported musculoskeletal pain in the past 3 months, adjusting for covariates including work-related psychosocial factors and physical work factors. Results In fully adjusted models, high work–family conflict was strongly associated with neck or shoulder pain (OR: 2.34, 95% CI: 1.64–3.34), arm pain (OR: 2.79, 95% CI: 1.64–4.75), lower extremity pain (OR: 2.20, 95% CI: 1.54–3.15) and any musculoskeletal pain (OR: 2.45, 95% CI: 1.56–3.85), and a number of body areas in pain (OR: 2.47, 95% CI: 1.82–3.36) in the past 3 months. The association with low back pain was attenuated and became non-significant after adjusting for covariates. Conclusions Given the consistent associations between work–family conflict and self-reported musculoskeletal pains, the results suggest that work–family conflict could be an important domain for health promotion and workplace policy development among hospital patient care workers.