Objective To understand the prevalence of depressive symptoms among rural elderly in China and analyze its associated factors. Methods Based on the data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2020, 5,208 rural elderly aged ≥60 years were selected as the research participants. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-10 (CESD-10) was used to assess depressive symptoms, and a total score ≥10 was defined as the presence of depressive symptoms. According to the assessment results, the research subjects were divided into the depressive symptom group or the non-depressive symptom group. Univariate logistic regression was used for preliminary variable screening, followed by LASSO regression for further variable set reduction, and multivariate logistic regression model was employed to analyze the factors associated with depressive symptoms in the end. Results A total of 5,208 rural elderly were included, with a CESD-10 score of 9.0 (6.0, 15.0). Among them, 2,538 cases (48.7%) were in the depressive symptom group, with a CESD-10 score of 15.0 (12.0, 19.0); 2,670 cases (51.3%) were in the non-depressive symptom group, with a CESD-10 score of 6.0 (3.0, 7.0). Univariate analysis showed that 13 variables were associated with depressive symptoms (all P<0.05). LASSO regression screened out 6 variables, including gender, duration of living alone in half a year, number of chronic diseases, nighttime sleep duration, self-rated health, and life satisfaction, which were included in the multivariate model. The results of multivariate analysis showed that female (OR=1.65, 95% CI: 1.47-1.86), duration of living alone in half a year (1-60 days: OR=1.28; 61-120 days: OR=1.43; >120 days: OR=1.25), number of chronic diseases (1 disease: OR=1.21; 2-3 diseases: OR=1.45; ≥4 diseases: OR=1.91), nighttime sleep duration (OR=0.90, 95% CI: 0.88-0.93), self-rated health (fair: OR=1.67; poor: OR=2.41; very poor: OR=3.55), and life satisfaction (fairly satisfied: OR=1.34; not very satisfied: OR=3.50; not satisfied at all: OR=2.73) were independently associated with depressive symptoms in rural elderly (all P<0.05). Conclusion The detection rate of depressive symptoms among rural elderly in China is relatively high. Gender, duration of living alone, number of chronic diseases, nighttime sleep duration, self-rated health, and life satisfaction are independent factors associated with depressive symptoms in this population.