This paper collected the statistical data of 107 prefecture-level cities in China from 2001 to 2015, and conducted an empirical analysis on the interaction mechanism between the income gap, industrial structure optimization and economic development by using the panel vector autoregressive model.We get the following results:1) Resource-based cities tend to pursue short-term development goals, but lack of long-term planning.In the process of industrial structure optimization, more attention is paid to the development of high polarization of industrial structure, while the process of industrial structure rationalization is neglected.2) Industrial structure affects the income gap between residents, among which the rationalization of industrial structure is negatively correlated with income gap, and the upgrading of industrial structure is positively correlated with income gap.3) Different industrial structure optimization indexes have different impacts on economic development:the higher the degree of industrial structure rationalization, the more the regional economic development will be promoted.The excessive pursuit of high industrial structure will curb economic development.According to the research results, the paper puts forward the following three suggestions.First, resource-based cities transformation plan should combine their own characteristics, and avoid the copycat behavior.Second, the employment of resource-based city residents should be focused, especially on the resettlement and re-employment of resource-based workers.Third, we should treat urban economic development indicators in a reasonable and scientific way, and abandon the "GDP-Only theory".