Background Hypertension is a public health problem globally. Understanding the perceived challenges of low-income older people populations with chronic disease is an obstacle the world is facing today. Aim To explore perceived challenges of self-management in low-income older people with hypertension. Methods Data were collected in three communities from September 2019 to October 2019 by semi-structured interviews. Interviews were audio-taped by digital voice recorder and analysed according to Colaizzi's seven steps. Results Participants demonstrated perceived challenges concerning hypertension self-management. Six themes were identified: hypertension belief bias, family dysfunction, deep-rooted habit, elder self-neglect, medical informatization and supportive health policy. Each theme was identified with several subthemes. Conclusions Findings implied that most of the low-income older people lacked self-management behaviours. Future research is needed to address perceived challenges related to self-management behaviour for patients with hypertension worldwide.