The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) does not justify the evaluation of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in children aged less than 10 years, unless they have a family history of risk factors. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Northwest of Mexico has increased in recent decades, making it possible to consider that MetS is already present in this group of population. Objective:The primary objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in children aged 6 to 9 years living in rural (RA) or urban (UA) areas of Northwest of Mexico. A secondary objective was to find adequate criteria to diagnose the prevalence of MS in children.Methods: Participated 268 school-aged children in a random-selected cross sectional study. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurement were performed, and biochemical indicators were analyzed. MetS was defined as the presence of three or more risk factors and diagnosed using three different criteria. One of them according to what was proposed by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) for children and two additional criteria proposed by this study considering suitable cutoffs for age for lipids and blood pressure.