The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted China’s economic stability. This study assesses the economic resilience of 2843 Chinese counties from 2019 to 2021 by constructing a comprehensive evaluation index system. Using the Projection Pursuit Model to generate index weights, we analyze resilience across four key dimensions: resistance, stress, recovery, and innovation. Our analysis reveals that urban economic resilience first declined during the pandemic’s peak before recovering in 2021. Spatially, eastern coastal regions demonstrated stronger resilience, supported by robust infrastructure, advanced industries, and flexible markets. In contrast, central and western regions were less resilient due to their reliance on traditional industries. A deeper sub-dimensional analysis showed that eastern regions consistently outperformed the west across all four metrics. This research establishes a rigorous framework for evaluating urban economic resilience and offers targeted strategies for policymakers to build more resilient cities in the face of future public health emergencies.
Lin et al. (2025) studied this question.