Heavy metal contaminated soils were primarily caused by mining and smelting activities. Exploring the spatial distribution and the pollution level of typical heavy metal in soil is of great significance in regional environmental management, pollution control and ecological protection. In this study, the typical heavy metal of Cd was studied for the farmland soils in Daye city, Hubei Province, and totally 92 top-soil samples and three typical soil profiles were collected and determined. The results showed that Cd concentration of farmland soil ranged from 0.6 to 4.6 mg/kg. The GIS analysis of Cd concentration showed its spatial distribution varied significantly due to the effects of pollution sources. The soil quality was assessed based on the geo-accumulation index and single factor index, and the heavily Cd polluted sites were in the vicinity of mining and smelting plants. The analysis results from different soil profiles indicated that the Cd content in the top 20 cm of soil was much higher than that in the deeper soil layers because of the enrichment of exogenous heavy metal. Cd concentration of soil profiles decreased with increasing soil depth until it is incline to the background value, while its vertical transport was influenced by the land use characteristics of paddy field or abandoned land.