Abstarct: The purpose of this research is to investigate the geochemistry of potentially toxic elements in urban soils of Shahrood, Semnan province. For this purpose, 26 surface soil samples were taken from Shahrood city. Physico-chemical characteristics of soil samples (including pH, organic matter and carbonate contents, and cation exchange capacity) and total concentration of potentially toxic elements in soil samples were determined using standard methods. The pH values, organic matter and carbonate contents of the studied samples vary in the range of 7 to 8.1, 0.3 and 2.1% (average 1.1%) and 25.5 and 85% (average 51.4%), respectively. The average concentrations of Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sc, Ti, Zn, and Zr are 35684, 7.9, 0.1, , 7.4, 77.5, 59.8, 21444, 448.9, 0.8, 31.5, 35.7, 6.9, 2949, 104.1 and 76.1 mg/kg, respectively. On the basis of the enrichment factor values, the studied soils are moderately polluted with Cd, Cu and Zn, significantly enriched with As and Pb, while there is no enrichment of Co, Ni, Mn, Fe, P, Mo and Cr in the studied soils. Statistical analysis (Correlation Analysis, Principle Component Analysis, and Cluster Analysis) indicate that Co and Mn are mainly from natural sources, while at least parts of Cr, Mo, Ni, P, Fe, Zn, Cu, As, Cd and Pb are probably from anthropogenic sources (e.g. industrial inputs, traffic, and commercial sources). The health risk assessment shows the carcinogenic risk of As for children through the ingestion route, that must be considered as a concern in the study area. Keywords: Potentially toxic elements, Urban soils, Pollution, Shahroud