Adult community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible S aureus (CA-MSSA) skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) in China is not well described. A prospective cohort of adults with SSTI was established between January 2009 and August 2010 at 4 hospitals in Beijing. Susceptibility testing and molecular typing, including multilocus sequence typing, spa, agr typing, and toxin detection were assessed for all S. aureus isolates. Overall, 501 SSTI patients were enrolled. Cutaneous abscess (40.7%) was the most common infection, followed by impetigo (6.8%) and cellulitis (4.8%). S. aureus accounted for 32.7% (164/501) of SSTIs. Five isolates (5/164, 3.0%) were CA-MRSA. The most dominant ST in CA-MSSA was ST398 (17.6%). The prevalence of Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (pvl) gene was 41.5% (66/159) in MSSA. Female, younger patients and infections requiring incision or drainage were more commonly associated with pvl-positive S. aureus (P