To understand the matching degree and pattern change of agricultural soil and water resources in three typical mountainous areas of China, the matching coefficient of agricultural soil and water resources was introduced to describe the spatial and temporal matching patterns of land and water resources in the study region by the amount of agricultural water resources on the unit area farmland. The results show that: (1) the concentration degree of farmland distribution in the three areas is high. The farmland in the Taihang Mountains is mainly distributed in the northern part of Hebei province and the southern part of Shanxi province, while it is mainly found in the southern part of the Hengduan Mountains. The farmland in karst mountains shows a distribution pattern of "more in the north and south, while less in the center". The farmland in the Taihang and karst mountainous areas decreased first, then increased and again decreased with the increase of elevation. The farmland in the Hengduan Mountains increased first, then decreased, again increased and decreased with the increase of elevation. (2) The distribution and change of agricultural water resources are mainly concentrated in low altitude areas. The agricultural water resources in the Taihang Mountains are mainly distributed in Shanxi and Henan, those in Hengduan Mountains are mainly distributed in Sichuan, and those in the karst mountains are evenly distributed in Guangxi and Guizhou. From the spatio-temporal variations, during 2000-2015, the agricultural water resources in the Taihang Mountains decreased by 6.22%, mainly in Beijing and Henan; those in the Hengduan Mountains decreased by 8.15%, mainly in Yunnan and Sichuan; the agricultural water resources in karst mountains increased by 5.52%, mainly in Guangxi. (3) The matching degree of agricultural soil and water resources in the Taihang Mountains was low, while that in the Hengduan Mountains and karst mountains was high. From 2000 to 2015, the matching degree of agricultural soil and water resources improved in the central Taihang Mountains, eastern Hengduan Mountains, and southern karst mountains, while that in southern Taihang Mountains, southwestern Hengduan Mountains, and northern karst mountains has worsened. During the study period, the conversion of the paddy field to dry land in the Taihang Mountains is prominent, and the matching degree of agricultural soil and water resources in the Taihang was the worst among the three mountainous areas. We should focus on the water pressure in the region, the maintenance of irrigation facilities and the improvement of the effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water.