Abstract: With the rapid development of China’s economy and the shift in the focus of resource development, most western resource-based cities have gone against the backdrop of national development.The study constructs an improved Solow Cobb-Douglas production function method, focuses on revealing the economic development and resource consumption patterns of eight western resource-based cities.The results show that there is a positive correlation between economic growth and energy consumption in western cities in qualitative aspects.In quantitative aspects, there are three characteristics of western resource-based cities as a whole:diminishing returns to scale, strong dependence on energy consumption and low rate of scientific and technological progress.So the western resource-based cities should adjust the industrial structure and the model of energy consumption, increase the investment in technology and education, promote the sustainable development of economy.