Primary care placements expose students to the communities they will serve, offering opportunities to engage with patients across the socioeconomic spectrum. Little is known whether the socioeconomic characteristics of patients seen by students, measured using postcode-linked Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) deciles, reflect the host practice population. Understanding this is important for promoting equitable and socially accountable medical education.To examine whether the deprivation status of patients seen by medical students during primary care placements aligns with the overall practice population.A cross-sectional study included five practices hosting third-year medical students: three in higher IMD (less deprived) areas and two in lower IMD (more deprived) areas. Student consultations were extracted from EMIS and SystemOne. Patient IMD deciles were compared with practice-level IMD data from NHS Fingertips, an online platform providing UK healthcare statistics. Descriptive analysis assessed whether students were exposed to patients representative of their practice population.Across practices, the range of IMD deciles of patients seen fell in the same half of the scale as the practice average. In higher IMD practices (deciles ~9), students typically saw patients in deciles 5–10; in lower IMD practices (deciles ~2), patients ranged 1–5. Students saw more deprived patients than the practice average in higher IMD(median of 7.85 vs 9.3) areas and slightly less deprived patients in lower IMD areas(3.23 vs 2.5). Students encountered a broader range of deprivation than the practice average.Although student exposure does not exactly match practice averages, they experience a wider deprivation spectrum within the same relative range. Variation may result from appointment type, patient availability, or allocation practices. Recognising this broader exposure supports the development of socially accountable clinicians and can guide supervisors in targeting under-represented groups.Deprivation representation in student consultations reflects the same relative half of deprivation as the host practice, but students encounter a broader range of IMD deciles than the average suggests. Awareness of this diversity is important for planning placements that promote equity and social accountability. Further research should compare students’ patients with those seen by GPs to assess alignment with expected clinical workloads and ensure representative exposure.