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Background: Prior research has produced mixed findings on the implications of recessions for health. On the one hand, some studies have found that recessions lead to improved health, with individuals often investing in higher levels of exercise and self-care. However, other studies have found that recessions may be deleterious for mental and behavioral health, with historically marginalized and economically vulnerable populations experiencing the worst outcomes. However, many of these measures of health are somewhat subjective (e.g. self-reported health) and are not necessarily informative with regards to aging and long-term health. Further, to-date there has been no exploration of how recessions impact epigenetic aging. Aims: Within this context, our study uses the Great Recession as our key "shock" and asks: 1) does exposure to greater recession intensity accelerate epigenetic aging? 2) is epigenetic aging more sensitive to certain forms of exposure, eg, unemployment rate versus housing prices? 3) To what extent, if any, do these outcomes vary by key demographic characteristics such as gender and educational attainment? Data and Methods: We use the Health and Retirement Study, as well as county-level unemployment and housing data from the BLS to construct our data set. We take a difference-in-difference approach and regress four separate epigenetic clock residuals (GrimAge, PoAm, Horvath and Levine) on our variables of interest. Results: Initial findings provide tenuous support for both sides in the recession-health debate: while we find no relationship between rate of epigenetic aging and recession intensity in our full sample, results are heterogenous by educational attainment.