Objective To investigate the status of pain and depressive symptoms in the elderly in China，and to explore the effect of pain sites on depressive symptoms. Methods Based on the data of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study（CHARLS） in 2018，the data of general situation questionnaire，pain-related situation questionnaire and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale（CESD-10） were obtained from 6 806 elderly people. The current situation of pain and depressive symptoms was summarized，and the influence of pain sites on depressive symptoms in the elderly was analyzed by Logistic regression. Results The incidence rate of pain in the elderly interviewed was 61.06%，and the incidence rate of depressive symptoms in the elderly was 37.51%. Chi-square test showed that older adults with different character suffered different incidence rate of depression symptoms，including gender，smoking，drinking，social activities，physical exercise，self-care status，self-rated health status，the number of chronic diseases，whether there was pain，the number of pain sites，and whether there was pain in each site（P<0.05）. Logistic regression analysis showed that the number of pain sites（OR=1.090，95%CI：1.069~1.112） and headache（OR=1.491，95%CI：1.277~1.741） were the risk factors for depressive symptoms in the elderly after controlling the demographic and other relevant factors. Conclusion The incidence of pain and depressive symptoms in the elderly in China is not optimistic. An increased number of pain sites and headaches can increase the risk of depressive symptoms in the elderly. Therefore，when caring for elderly patients with pain，in addition to alleviating their physical pain，nurses should also pay attention to their mental health and take preventive interventions to promote a healthy aging.