Abstract: As a primary national development strategy in the new era, the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) still faces the problem of unbalanced regional development in the current stage.It is of great significance to study the comprehensive carrying capacity of the old industrial cities in the YREB to revitalize them and promote the coordinated and sustainable development.Based on the panel data of 32 old industrial cities from 2012 to 2022, the comprehensive carrying capacity index evaluation system of old industrial cities was constructed.Five dimensions were included, such as society, economy, infrastructure, resources and environment.The Dagum Gini coefficient, optimal parameter geographic detector and spatiotemporal weighted regression (GTWR) model were used.The results showed that: (1) The comprehensive carrying capacity of the old industrial cities increased significantly during the study period, and its mean value showed a trapezoidal distribution of "high in the east and low in the west".(2) There existed development differences in the comprehensive carrying capacity, among which regional differences were the main one that affected the overall differences.(3) It was found that urbanization level, science and technology expenditure, economic development, foreign investment, consumption level, green innovation, and digital infrastructure had apparent driving effects on the comprehensive carrying capacity of the old industrial cities, and the driving interpretation would be significantly improved after the dual effects.(4) The urbanization level had the most significant effect of an increasing trend on the comprehensive carrying capacity.The catalytic role of green innovation and digital infrastructure continued to wane over time.This research provided a reference value for promoting the comprehensive carrying capacity of the old industrial cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.