Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coliare responsible for difficult-to-treat infections. We sought to determine the prevalence and characteristics of MDR E. colistrains isolated from poultry and clinical patients in the same geographical region. Eighty-seven E. colistrains were isolated from poultry with perihepatitis lesions at different slaughterhouses, and 356 nonrepetitive E. colistrains were isolated from clinical patients. All samples were continuously collected from October to December 2017 in Tai'an, China. The presence of the mcr-1gene in the strains was assessed by PCR. The genetic relationships of the polymyxin (POL)-resistant E. colistrains were analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing. The results indicate that the POL resistance rate for the E. coliisolates from poultry was 31.03% (27 of 87), whereas the human-origin E. coliisolates were 100% sensitive to POL. The mcr-1gene and extended-spectrum β-lactamase blaCTX-M-14genes were identified in all 27 POL-resistant avian-origin E. coliisolates. Our pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis suggested that the 27 strains were represented by 14 pulsotypes, among which there were 3 strains each with A, E, I, and K pulsotypes, and 1 to 2 strains represented by the other 10 pulsotypes. Furthermore, multilocus sequence typing molecular typing identified 16 sequence types, including 4 ST156 strains, 3 ST533 strains, and 1 to 2 strains represented by the remaining 14 sequence types. In summary, the E. colistrains isolated in the Tai'an area all showed the MDR phenotype, the rate of which for poultry was higher than that for humans. No POL-resistant human-origin E. colistrains were identified in the clinical patients. Our study reveals that poultry-derived MDR mcr-1–positive E. colistrains may pose a potential risk to humans, and the surveillance findings presented herein will be conducive to our understanding of the prevalence and characteristics of mcr-1–positive E. colistrains in the Tai'an area.