Abstract Background Increased serum urate levels are associated with poor outcomes including but not limited to gout. It is unclear whether serum urate levels are the sole predictor of incident hyperuricemia or whether demographic and clinical risk factors also predict the development of hyperuricemia. The goal of this study was to identify risk factors for incident hyperuricemia over 9 years in a population-based study, ARIC. Methods ARIC recruited individuals from 4 US communities; 8,342 participants who had urate levels 7.0 g/dL) were identified using an AIC-based selection approach in a modified Poisson regression model. Results The 9-year cumulative incidence of hyperuricemia was 4%; men = 5%; women = 3%; African Americans = 6% and whites = 3%. The adjusted model included 9 predictors for incident hyperuricemia over 9 years: male sex (RR = 1.73 95% CI: 1.36-2.21), African-American race (RR = 1.79 95% CI: 1.37-2.33), smoking (RR = 1.27, 95% CI: 0.97-1.67),