Soil phosphorus availability significantly affects forest productivity and carbon sequestration capacity. Understanding the distribution characteristics of total phosphorus (TP) density under different environmental conditions such as soil, climate, and vegetation is important to provide theoretical guidance for forest quality improvement and carbon sequestration. However, these distributions of soil TP density in China's forests are still poorly understood. In this study, soil TP content and bulk density at soil depths of 0-20 cm (2571 plots), 20-40 cm (1305 plots), 40-60 cm (701 plots), 60-80 cm (40 plots), and 80-100 cm (31 plots) were collected from national survey data and literature data to estimate soil TP density. Differences in soil TP density in different soil layers, soil types, soil weathering levels, climate zones, forest origins, forest structures, age groups, forest types, and species groups were tested by one-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD (or Mann-Whitney U) method. The latitudinal and longitudinal trends of soil TP density were analyzed by linear regression analysis. The soil TP density of 40-60 cm (9.02 t/hm²) was significantly lower than that of surface soil such as 0-20 cm (13.81 t/hm²) and 20-40 cm (10.84 t/hm²), as well as deep soil such as 60-80 cm (11.28 t/hm²) and 80-100 cm (12.76 t/hm²) (P<0.001). It was characterized by a trend of intermediate weathering (11.89-18.86 t/hm²) > slight weathering (10.19-11.13 t/hm²) > strong weathering (5.44-8.89 t/hm²) at each layer of 0-60 cm. There were significant differences in soil TP density among soil types (P<0.001), with the lowest value of Ferralisols (5.44-8.89 t/hm²). The soil TP density increased linearly with the increase of latitude, but decreased linearly with the increase of longitude (except for 0-20 cm), and showed an increased tendency from the tropical zone to the north-temperate zone. The soil TP density at each layer of 0-60 cm was significantly higher in planted forests (11.54-15.49 t/hm²) than in natural forests (7.14-11.93 t/hm²) and in pure forests (12.16-15.40 t/hm²) than in mixed forests (6.06-12.15 t/hm²). The soil TP density also showed significant differences among age groups and forest types (P<0.001), with the highest value in over-mature forests (23.10 t/hm² and 12.54 t/hm²) and deciduous coniferous forests (19.49 t/hm² and 15.30 t/hm²) at depths of 0-20 cm and 20-40cm. But it decreased with the increase of forest age at the depth of 40-60 cm. In conclusion, there was an obviously spatial distribution of TP density at the depth of 0-100 cm in China's forests and there were significant differences in soil TP density among soil, climate, and vegetation types. These biotic and abiotic factors were important to affect the size and distribution characteristics of soil TP in China's forests. Extending the rotation period and planting the mixed forests are important pathways to maintain and improve the sustainable utilization of soil TP in China's forests.