In order to analyze the development status and trend of water resources carrying capacity research, the research progress of water resources carrying capacity is summarized based on the data of 2 558 articles in CNKI database and 512 articles in WOS database on water resources carrying capacity through the analysis of the time distribution of literature publication, the distribution of disciplines and periodicals, the distribution of highly cited literature, the distribution of research subjects and research hotspots, etc, by using co-authorship analysis and co-occurrence analysis and other bibliometric visualization analysis methods. The above analysis shows that the research on water resources carrying capacity is a rapidly developing new field. The domestic research hotspots mainly include water resources management, water resources carrying capacity evaluation, sustainable development, water environment carrying capacity, water security and sustainable utilization of water resources. The foreign research hotspots mainly include sustainable development of water resources, carrying capacity, climate change, water resources management, water quality and risk assessment.