Abstract: Resource-based cities urgently need to solve the industrial structure transformation dilemma to realize high-quality development. Improving the resource allocation efficiency is crucial to realizing the high-quality development of resource-based cities. The development of new quality productive forces is aimed at innovative allocation of production factors, enhancing total factor productivity and realizing deep industrial transformation and upgrading. Therefore, this paper takes China’s resource-based cities as the research object, selects the panel data of 112 resource-based cities from 2013 to 2022, and verifies the impact of new quality productive forces on the industrial structure upgrading of resource-based cities by constructing an econometric basic regression model. Resource allocation efficiency is chosen as a mediating variable to test the mechanism of new quality productive forces on industrial structure upgrading in resource-based cities. The research results show that the new quality productive forces significantly promotes the industrial structure upgrading of resource-based cities. The study on the mechanism of action finds that the new quality productive forces not only directly promotes the upgrading of the industrial structure of resource-based cities, but also indirectly promotes the upgrading of the industrial structure of resource-based cities through improving the resource allocation efficiency. The study on regional heterogeneity finds that the new quality productive forces can significantly promote the industrial structure upgrading and rationalization of resource-based cities in the eastern and western regions, and has a significant effect on the industrial structure upgrading of resource-based cities in the central and northeastern regions, while it has no significant effect on the rationalization of resource-based cities in the central and northeastern regions. According to the conclusion of the study, resource-based cities should develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, and put forward suggestions to accelerate the upgrading of the industrial structure of resource-based cities in terms of the three elements of new quality productive forces, namely, new quality laborers, new quality labor objects, and new quality means of production and the integration of the elements, respectively.