Abstract Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is regarded as an important option to reduce the CO2 emission of the electricity industry, especially in China. But emissions reduction potential of CCUS within each special administrative region needs to be identified. We explored the near-term CO2 storage potential of coal-fired power plants in China from the county perspective. According to the results of emissions sources and storage sites within counties, the following findings were reached: 1) Coal-fired power plants are distributed in 441 counties, the oil fields are in 149 counties, and the deep saline aquifers are in 561 counties. The spatial distribution of storage sites and coal-fired power plants is not consistent across counties. 2) Considering the injection capacity of single well, the CO2 storage potential decreased by more than 50%. Thirty counties have emission reduction potential through CCUS, with a total of 99.01Mt/y. 3) The CCUS emission reduction of counties in the top five provinces accounts for 83.9% of the total. Hebei, Xinjiang, Tianjin, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces can be regarded as demonstration provinces for near term project deployment.