In this study we investigate the interrelation between neuroticism, education, smoking and health. Two lines of research are brought together: one studying the relationship between neuroticism and health and the other studying the association between education and health. As lower educated people more often score high on neuroticism, we study the relationships of education and neuroticism with health simultaneously. Moreover, we hypothesize that smoking behaviour is a common explanatory factor in these associations. A 1996 US general population sample is employed to test the hypotheses. The associations between education and neuroticism on the one hand and self-assessed health on the other hand proved to be substantially smaller when education and neuroticism are mutually controlled for. Yet, the hypothesis that smoking behaviour provides an explanation for educational differences in health was only supported for men.