Mineral elements are closely related to the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine. They affect the synthesis of secondary metabolites by regulating the activities of various enzymes in the secondary metabolism pathway, which is an indispensable characteristic parameter for the quality control of traditional Chinese medicine. In order to effectively identify the quality differences of Astragalus membranaceus, the characteristic elements of Astragalus membranaceus and their relationship with the region were found out. The species and contents of mineral elements in Astragalus membranaceus from different areas in Qinghai Province were determined by ICP-OES. The data were analyzed by cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) with SPSS 22.0 and R package respectively. 12 kinds of elements in Astragalus membranaceus were determined. The results of PCA showed that Ca, Fe, Li, P, K, Mg, Zn, AL, Na were characteristic elements of Astragalus membranaceus; the clustering analysis results showed that the types and contents of mineral elements in the samples were related to the producing area. When the Euclidean distance was 8, the samples could be clustered into three categories: S12 was clustered into one group, S1, S2, S4, S5, S6, S7, S10, S11, S13, S16 could be clustered into one category, the other samples were in one group. Combining with the distribution map of ArcGIS, the relationship between producing area and its quality can be seen more intuitively. In addition, the distribution characteristics of inorganic elements in Astragalus membranaceus were established. The similarity of the characteristics of inorganic elements in Astragalus membranaceus from different areas was more than 0.996. Therefore, the fingerprint can be used to identify and analyze Astragalus membranaceus from different areas. From the results of PCA of element content, the quality of Astragalus membranaceus produced in S10 (Naka village, Donggou Township, Huzhu county) was the best, the total factor score F was the highest, followed by S7 and S8, which showed that the quality of Astragalus membranaceus in Huzhu county was good. The results show that Astragalus membranaceus is rich in mineral elements, and its content is affected by the place of production. Paying attention to the content and types of elements in the medicinal materials is a supplementary explanation of the pharmacological components and can further reveal the quality from the perspective of elements. The results provide a reference basis for the development and utilization of resources and quality identification of Astragalus membranaceus and provide a guarantee for quality and safety control it.