The recommendation to eat diverse types of foodstuffs is an internationally accepted recommendation for a healthy life. In this way, the study was conducted to assess the nutritional status and dietary diversity of the 160 rural and urban households in Vijayapur district of Karnataka using 24 hours recall method with a view to understanding the heterogeneity in food habits, quality of diet intake and the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of the dietary diversity in study area. There was significant disparity among the rural and urban areas in terms of food intake level across the income groups. The MPC consumption was higher in rural areas as compare to urban areas. However, the energy intake was higher in urban areas as against rural areas, since consumption of high value nutritious foods. By overall, the intake of energy and other nutrients was lower than ICMR- Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). Dietary diversity result indicates, urban households consume more diversed food items as compare to rural households. From a policy perspective, it is therefore important to focus interventions on improving dietary diversity and nutrition security with proper understanding of the socio-economic setting of the target area and its population.