Abstract: With the transition from the governance of "one lake" to "systemic governance," it is of significant importance to accurately assess the status of household livelihood capital among the farmers in the Erhai Lake basin, in an attempt to propose the optimization strategies for enhancing ecological governance effectiveness in China's plateau lake basin. This is also essential to ensure the livelihood security of households surrounding Erhai Lake basin. This study focused on 369 households across seven towns in the Erhai Lake basin. Based on the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) framework, we constructed an evaluation index system for household livelihood capital using the entropy method. The obstacle degree model was applied to investigate the primary influencing factors on different types of household livelihood capital. The findings indicated that: (1) Among the indicators of household livelihood capital in the study area, the material capital index had the highest value, followed by social capital, human capital, and natural capital, while financial capital had the lowest index value; (2) Under the compounded effects of ecological governance of Erhai Lake and natural disease risks, mixed farming households had the highest livelihood capital index and the most stable livelihood channels among the four types of households; (3) The areas where protection policies were applied, household production activities were subject to more stringent restrictions, leading to lower reserves of livelihood capital; (4) The influencing factors of livelihood capital for different types of households were consistent, which included primarily agricultural income, agricultural production equipment, non-agricultural income, arable land area, and household asset value. Thus, the current state of household livelihood capital in the Erhai Lake basin was a result of the combined effect of financial capital, material capital, and natural capital. Household livelihood capital in various types of households within the study area exhibited varying degrees influenced by environmental protection policies, land resources, and other aspects, with a notable spatial heterogeneity. The continuous optimization of various types of household livelihood capital should consider the joint driving effect of multiple elements in conjunction with actual local conditions.