Our goal was to understand the effect of grazing intensities on the characteristics of plant species distribution in functional communities and soil physical and chemical properties. This study consisted of a controlled grazing trail with six grazing intensities on an alpine meadow located in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We used multivariate analysis and the variance decomposition method and studied the quantitative relationships between plant species distribution of plant functional groups and soil physical and chemical properties. The results showed that:(1) The richness, coverage, and real importance value of plant species in Gramineae, sedge, and perennial herb communities significantly decreased with increasing grazing intensity, whereas annual forbs exhibited no significant change. (2) For soil chemical properties, the soil available K, total N, and organic C contents decreased with soil depth and increased in plots with different grazing intensity, although soil available P changed inconsistently in different grazing intensity plots. With the increase of grazing intensity, the soil available P and total N content increased, whereas soil available P and organic C content did not change significantly. (3) For soil physical properties, the soil compaction and bulk density increased with soil depth and increased with grazing intensity in different plots, whereas the soil moisture and ventilation porosity decreased. With the increase in grazing intensity, the soil compaction and bulk density increased at 0-30 cm depth, and soil moisture and ventilation porosity decreased. (4) Based on the variance decomposition of plant communities obtained using plant functional groups as the basic unit, the soil physical properties could explain 58.10% of the total variance of plant functional group distribution. (5) Quantitative multivariate analysis between different functional groups and soil factors based on plant species scales indicated that soil compaction was the most important factor determining the distribution pattern of each functional group. The distribution of Gramineae, sedges, and perennial herb plants were influenced by soil physical properties, and the contribution rates were 26.3%, 31.0%, and 16.5%, respectively. However, the annual herbaceous plants were not significantly affected by soil physical and chemical properties. In conclusion, the effect of grazing intensity on soil chemical properties was uncertain, but the effect on plant community characteristics and soil physical properties was certain. Soil physical properties dominated the species distribution pattern of functional groups in the alpine meadow.