Based on the monitoring data of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 concentrations released by the China National Environmental Monitoring Station from 2016 to 2020, four typical coastal cities with active economy (Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, and Ningbo) were selected for analysis from the aspects of geographical location,climate,industrial structure, transportation and GDP. The results showed that regional geographic location and climate had an impact on the concentration distribution of atmospheric pollutants. The concentrations of PM2.5, PM10 and SO2 in winter in the northern two cities were higher than those in the southern two cities. The highest average values in 2020 in the northern two cities were 2 times, 1.8 times and 1.4 times as much as those of the southern cities, respectively. The average PM10 concentration in Qingdao in winter was the highest among the four cities, but in summer it was muchlower than that in Tianjin and was similar to Ningbo, which had the lowest concentration. Transportation,temperature, and precipitation had different impacts on the concentrations of air pollutants. Affected by the epidemic, there was a significant difference between the transportation capacity of Shanghai in 2020 and 2019. As a result, in Shanghai, the fluctuation amplitude of the NO2 concentration in the winter of 2020 is 1.5 times as much as that in the winter of 2019. The impact of precipitation on seasonally arid cities was greater than that on humid cities. The impact of precipitation on the northern two cities was negatively correlated, and the impact on the southern two cities was weakly correlated. Taking the unit GDP as the comparison benchmark value, Shanghai has the smallest comparison value of each pollutant concentration. Taking Shanghai as the benchmark value, the maximum comparison values of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 concentrations in northern cities were 4.16, 4.61, 3.82 and 2.91, respectively.