The urban areas of China are not only undergoing rapid population growth and economic development, but are also facing the aggravated risk of climate change. Building capacity for urban adaptation has become one of the most critical tasks for addressing climate change. This study aims to systematize and evaluate the capacity for adaptation to climate change in urban areas of China and determine the critical elements needed to accomplish this. This study provides a scientific basis for the establishment and enforcement of a regional adaptation policy. We have established an estimation framework based on the IPCC vulnerability assessment, and selected 19 indicators related to exposure-sensitivity-resilience. The indicators were divided into five grades using the entropy method for objective weighting. We then evaluated the capacity for adaptation to climate change in 286 urban localities across China using the set pair analysis method and discuss its limiting factors. The results showed that urban adaptation capacity is higher in eastern regions than western regions. Regions with low capacities are mainly distributed into three clusters:cities in northwest China, Gansu-Shaanxi; cities in central China, Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi; and cities in southwest China, Guangxi-Yunnan. The limiting elements affecting urban adaptation capacity in relation to "exposure-resilience-sensitivity" are mainly manifested as follows:higher adaptability is mainly the combination of "low-high-low;" and lower adaptability includes "high-high-high," "low-low-low," and "high-low-low" combinations. Different countermeasures have to be adopted to improve urban adaptation capacity to climate change in different regions. The current emphasis is on improving resilience for cities in northwest China, Gansu-Shaanxi, by establishing a post-disaster restoration and emergency system. The key to improving adaptation is upgrading the defense capabilities of cities in central and southwest China.