Aim To investigate the relation between change of the number and functional activity of circulating endothelial progenitor cells and endothelial function in overweight and postmenopausal women. Methods Eighty volunteers were divided into four groups:healthy postmenopausal women (n＝20), overweight postmenopausal women (n＝20), healthy men (n＝20) and overweight men (n＝20). Flow cytometry analysis was used to detect the number of CD34 and KDR double-positive labeled circulating endothelial progenitor cells in the four groups, and acetylated low density lipoprotein (ac-LDL) and lectin fluorescent staining method were explored to detect the number of cultured endothelial progenitor cells. In addition, the migration and proliferation of endothelial progenitor cells were detected respectively with MTT and Transwell method. Finally, vascular endothelial function was investigated by brachial artery-based flow-mediated dilatation (FMD). Results No significant differences were found among the number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells in the four groups (P＞0.05). There was no conspicuous difference in activity of circulating endothelial progenitor cells as well as FMD between overweight men and postmenopausal overweight women (P＞0.05). Compared with the normal weight group, the FMD, migration, and proliferation of circulating endothelial progenitor cells were remarkably decreased in overweight group (P＜0.05). A strong significant correlation was found between the migration and proliferation of circulating endothelial progenitor cells and FMD(r＝0.45, P＜0.05; r＝0.52, P＜0.05, respectively) in overweight group. Conclusion The number and functional activity of circulating endothelial progenitor cells and endothelial function in overweight postmenopausal women were not preserved, and which were significantly declined.