Abstract: Rural industries can facilitate urban-rural factor mobility and rural revitalization in rural regional systems. Nevertheless, challenges remain in rural industrial development, including homogeneous industrial structures, short industrial chains, insufficient digital penetration, and low ecological adaptability. Classifying and zoning regulations of rural industries are often required to reduce regional disparities for targeted governance. In this study, a multi-dimensional evaluation system was constructed to cover industrial foundation, efficiency and potential, according to the framework of 'industrial classification–development grading–regional zoning‘’. A systematic evaluation was also conducted for the county-level development of rural industries in China from 2010 to 2023. Targeted zoning optimization strategies were proposed using principal component analysis, geographic concentration index, and K-means clustering. The results show that: 1) The development index of rural industries increased steadily from 0.443 in 2010 to 0.638 in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 3.13%, accompanied by striking regional differentiation. High-level development zones, accounting for 13.22% of the national territory, were predominantly distributed in eastern coastal regions, such as the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, while low-level zones, occupying 8.32%, were concentrated in ecologically fragile areas, including the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Qin-Ba Mountains. Overall, a stepped spatial pattern was formed to be characterized by innovation-driven transformation in Eastern China, processing-oriented value upgrading in Central China, and characteristic resource utilization in Western China. 2) Rural industrial development was composed of three divergent evolutionary dimensions. The industrial foundation maintained steady improvement; Industrial efficiency grew continuously at a decelerating rate; And industrial potential retained comparative superiority with slowing growth. There was a noticeable transition from conventional resource-driven toward efficiency-oriented and potential-enhanced trends. The driving factors were taken as industrial support capacity, digital and marketization levels, and industrial integration. 3) According to the integrated analytical logic of “component dominance–geographic concentration–spatial overlay”, rural industrial space was classified into 9 primary and 28 secondary zones. The zoning system covered diverse geographical units from the Northwest Oasis Agriculture-Energy Synergy Zone to the Southeast Coastal Export-Oriented Innovation Zone, indicating the intra-regional consistency and inter-regional heterogeneity. 4) Differentiated paths were required to promote high-quality industrial upgrading. In primary industries, models such as agro-energy complementarity and pasture-photovoltaic coordination should be popularized to coordinate grain security, ecological conservation, and farmers’ income. In secondary industries, intensive processing and green manufacturing should be prioritized to extend industrial chains and promote clustered and high-value development. In tertiary industries, agriculture, culture, and tourism, as well as digital empowerment, should be strengthened to accelerate urban-rural factor circulation and rural wealth. These differentiated strategies can contribute to the modern rural industrial system. These findings can provide reliable spatial guidance and scientific decision-making references to promote high-quality rural industrial development and rural revitalization.