•Evaluation of normal aortic tissue demonstrated 11 VSMC-like clusters, including 9 VSMC subpopulations, one EC-like VSMC cluster, and one fibroblast-like cluster•Gene ontology (GO) analysis of DEGs showed functional diversity of the 9 VSMC subpopulations; pathway enrichment analysis revealed functional heterogeneity of VSMCs•RGS5, a regulator of G protein signaling molecules, was specifically elevated in the homeostasis associated VSMC subpopulation, which immunohistochemistry revealed RGS5 and Fn positive VSMCs were nearly absent in AAA tissue. This evidence concerns the gene FN1 and triple-A syndrome.