Abstract: In order to investigate the performance-based seismic design method of cold-formed steel (CFS) structures, statistical analysis was conducted on experimental phenomena and data of 284 CFS structures at home and abroad. Their performance was divided into four levels: normal occupancy, immediate occupancy, life safety and collapse prevention, and the inter-story drift ratio limits corresponding to different performance levels were quantified. Based on the characteristics of CFS structures, the multi degree of freedom system was transformed into an equivalent single degree of freedom system. The first vibration mode was selected as the horizontal displacement mode, and combined with the equivalent elastic-plastic displacement response spectrum, the shear force and layout parameters of the shear wall of the structure were obtained. Finally, a displacement-based seismic design method and procedure for CFS structures were proposed. Five seismic waves were selected for the dynamic time-history analysis of CFS structures according to the Site category and design earthquake grouping. The results show that the peak inter-story drift ratio of CFS structures under different earthquake actions meets the inter-story drift ratio limit recommended in this paper, indicating the effectiveness of displacement-based seismic design method. Meanwhile, case analysis shows that the performance-based seismic design method for CFS structures is simple and practical, providing reference for subsequent theoretical research and engineering applications.