Background : awareness of chronic kidney disease (CKD) includes general knowledge of CKD, its risk factors. Early identification and management of CKD can reduce undesired outcomes related to the disease. However, nearly all CKD conditions were not clinically familiar primarily because of the poor public awareness about the disease. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted. The target population of this study was lay public and health professionals were excluded from the study. Proportional numbers of study participants were included from each sub-city based on their total population size. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Frequencies, table’s percentage, mean and standard deviation were used to describe the response of participants. Independent T test and one way ANOVA statics were used identify factors associated public knowledge of CKD. Results: A total of 350 individuals were approached, 301 of whom completed and returned the questionnaire, giving a response rate of 86%. In this study, the mean (SD) knowledge score of participants was 11.12 (±4.21) with a minimum score of 0 and a maximum of 22. With respect to distribution of CKD knowledge score, half of the respondents score 11 and less. One way ANOVA revealed that educational level had significant effect on knowledge of CKD. Respondents who had a qualification of degree had relatively higher knowledge scores than the other category participants ( P-value = 0.015). Independent t-test was also performed but failed to reveal any association between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge score. Conclusions : The general knowledge level of the Ethiopian population about CKD and its risk factors is low. Currently, non-communicable disease such as diabetes and hypertension becomes public concern those are one of the significant risk factors for CKD. As our study indicated even these groups of populations are not adequately informed regarding their increased risk for developing CKD. Keywords: chronic kidney disease, public knowledge, Ethiopia