Coastal cities are key areas for human settlement and exploitation of marine resources. With human activities extended to the sea, the coastal ecosystem has been affected to a certain extent. The comprehensive coastal ecological carrying capacity (CECC) reflects the integrated impacts of environmental, economic and social activities on coastal ecosystems, which is very important for evaluating coastal ecosystem health and formulating environmental management policies. We applied "pressure(P)-state(S)-response(R)" conceptual model to construct a comprehensive assessment index system for measuring ecological carrying capacity. Combing the Entropy value method with Delphi method for weighing the indicators, together with space-state model, we calculated the comprehensive ecological carrying capacity (CECC) of Lianyungang City from 2005 to 2014. Results showed that: (1) The comprehensive ecological carrying capacity in Lianyungang City has been increasing with fluctuation, from 0.374-0.831, with an annual growth rate of 10.47%. (2) The comprehensive ecological carrying capacity was overloaded from 2005 to 2007, in a state of equilibrium from 2008 to 2011, and below the limits after 2012. In addition, using the contribution ratio analysis of different factors, their contributions to the comprehensive carrying capacity were also estimated:(1) The contribution of coastal environmental pressure was more significant than population growth. (2) The coastal resource availability fell from 32.08% to 9.84%. (3) The coastal zone economic development, social and technology support were on the rise as a whole. Through correlation analysis and factor analysis, we found that the coastal environmental pressure, technological support and economic development were the key factors restricting the comprehensive ecological carrying capacity. The assessment results can be used as a scientific basis for formulation of long-term coastal sustainable development plans and environmental management policies.