Mississippi has a very high prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D), especially among African Americans compared to Caucasians. This project determined the L55M genotypes of paraoxonase 1 (PON1) in 187 people and evaluated associations of PON1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), Q192R and L55M, with CAD and T2D in a Mississippian (southern) population. Significant associations were found with PON1 SNPs and race: genotypes LL, LM, QR, and RR showed significant associations with race (p values 0.0000955, 0.0024, 0.00001244, and 0.00001676, respectively), and combined genotypes LMQQ and LMRR were significantly associated with race (p values = 0.0001013 and 0.000473, respectively). While no significant associations were found between PON1 SNPs and CAD (p values> 0.2374), combined genotype LMQQ and genotype LM trended towards the likelihood of having T2D with p values = 0.0723 and 0.0931, respectively, and are suggestive of a potential biomarker for T2D risk.