Abstract The relationship between the presence of depression, as measured by total score on the GDS-15 scale, and both pre-frailty and frailty status in community-dwelling elderly was determined. Two thousand four hundred and two elderly residents from seven Brazilian cities (M = 72.3 years, SD = 5.5; 66 % female) were evaluated according to the five criteria comprising the frailty phenotype. Participants answered a self-report inventory of diseases, of performance on advanced and instrumental activities of daily living, and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). The number and types of depressive symptoms were found to be higher among frail and pre-frail elderly. Thus, besides variability in depression prevalence among the frailty profiles there were also characteristic depressive symptoms for each profile of the syndrome.