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Presently, the growth of residents’ consumption is slowing, which necessitates the expansion of domestic demand. Against this backdrop, research on the impact of pension insurance on the optimization of the consumption structure in rural areas not only facilitates the welfare of rural residents and improves their consumption structure but also boosts the sustainable and healthy development of the Chinese economy. This paper applies China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) micro data in 2018 and adopts Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to research the impact of China’s pension insurance system on the consumption structure in rural areas and its heterogeneity. This paper draws a conclusion at four levels. First, pension insurance effectively optimizes the consumption structure in rural areas, increases the current overall consumption level by 0.0024 percent, and objectively releases the consumption potential in rural areas. Second, participation in pension insurance enhances the overall consumption level of rural families in eastern China, central China, and northeastern China by 0.08 percent, 0.146 percent, and 0.0446 percent respectively, yet, that inhibits the overall consumption level of rural families in rural areas in western China by 0.1057 percent. Third, from eastern China to western China, with regard to pension insurance, as its impact on consumption shifts from a higher level to a lower level, its impact on the optimization of consumption structures sinks to a lower level. Fourth, in terms of major factors, age (older), matrimonial res (married), years of education (longer), health (poor), and the number of family members (small) contribute to the stronger willingness to participate in pension insurance