Provided are an apparatus and method for measuring blood pressure. The blood pressure measuring apparatus includes a pressure sensor detecting a sphygmus wave and pressure of a blood vessel in a subject, a pulse detecting unit detecting a peak-to-peak interval of the sphygmus wave of the subject, an optimum rate of pressure change detecting unit detecting an optimum rate of pressure change of the blood vessel by using the peak-to-peak interval of the sphygmus wave, a compression unit performing a compression operation in which the blood vessel is compressed at the optimum rate of pressure change detected by the optimum rate of pressure change detecting unit, or a decompression operation in which the blood vessel is compressed so as to be closed, and is then decompressed at the optimum rate of pressure change, and a blood pressure detecting unit detecting blood pressure of the subject, based on the sphygmus wave and the pressure of the blood vessel, which are detected in the compression operation or the decompression operation.