Pesticides are widely used in agricultural production, and their residues migrate to aquifers, threatening groundwater safety. This study investigated the occurrence and distribution characteristics of 18 typical pesticide components in different environmental media in China. Meanwhile, the driving factors of the migration and transformation of pesticide components in groundwater were identified. The results show that among 20,010 groundwater monitoring sites, the proportions of the average concentrations of the 18 pesticide components at not detected (ND), ND-1 μg/L, 0.1-1 μg/L, and greater than 1 μg/L are 40.42 %, 25.85 %, 26.59 %, and 7.14 %, respectively. Among 15 groundwater resource regions, the proportions of groundwater with average pesticide concentrations greater than 1 μg/L in the Liaohe River Basin, Songhua River Basin, and Huaihe River Basin are 22.92 %, 16.62 %, and 10.92 % respectively. The detected concentration of pesticides in groundwater decreases significantly with increasing monitoring depth. Based on the multi-factor analysis of the source-sink processes of pesticides in groundwater, pesticides tend to accumulate in phreatic aquifers with relatively more rainfall, shorter sunshine duration, higher permeability of the vadose zone, a primarily reducing environment, and TDS less than 1000 mg/L. In some monitoring sites with phreatic aquifers, pesticide components of chlorpyrifos, pentachlorophenol, 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachlorocyclohexane, lindane, hexachlorobenzene, heptachlor and malathion pose non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks to human health.