background Studies suggest that parents tend to misperceive their child's weight status and typically underestimate their child's weight. Since few studies examine the factors that influence parental misperception, this study aims to assess the relationship between parental and child factors and parental misperception of their child's weight status in South Carolina in 2013 and 2014. methods Secondary data were obtained from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the Children's Health Assessment Survey in 2013 and 2014 in South Carolina. Parental misperception of their child's weight status was measured by comparing parental perception to their child's actual BMI status. Logistic regression was conducted to assess the association between parental and child factors and parental misperception of their child's weight status. The analysis included the following parent level factors: health status, income, BMI, diabetes status, exercise status, educational attainment, marital status, role (i.e. parent or grandparent) and age. The analysis included the following child level factors: age, race, exercise status, and sex. results We showed a significant, negative association between child's age and parental misperception of their child's weight status, and a significant, positive association between parental income and parental misperception of their child's weight status. In the adjusted multivariate analysis, only child age was significantly associated with parental misperception of their child's weight status. discussion This cross sectional analysis showed an association between child's age and parental misperception of their child's weight status. It is essential to educate parents about their children's weight status, especially among the young children.