The scope listed in the table is top prefectures by GDP per capita over ten thousand US dollars, including direct-administered municipalities and special administrative regions^{[clarify][original research?]} that are roughly comparable in area and economic volume. The unit of measurement for the data listed is the local currency renminbi. In order to facilitate international comparison, the local currency is converted into United States dollars.

According to the administrative divisions of China, there are three level of cities: municipalities, prefecture-level cities, and county-level cities. A prefecture-level city (地级市) is not a "city" in the strictest sense of the term, but instead an administrative unit comprising, typically, both an urban area (a city in the strict sense) and surrounding rural or less-urbanized areas usually many times the size of the central, built-up core.

Prefecture-level cities nearly always contain multiple counties, county-level cities, and other such sub-divisions. To distinguish a prefecture-level city from its actual urban area (city in the strict sense), the term "urban area" (市区 shìqū) is used.

Methods and accuracy in the reporting of population and economic activity vary widely, hence these figures should be seen as estimates rather than facts. Some cities do not include migrant workers in the population count, even though the output they generate are counted in the total GDP, resulting in an inflated GDP per capita.