Objective To analyze the risk factors for brain metastasis from esophageal carcinoma and survival status of the patients. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 2563 patients with esophageal carcinoma admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University from January 2005 to January 2019. Univariate analysis was performed to investigate the clinicopathological characteristics in the brain metastasis group and the non-brain metastasis group, and multivariate Logistic regression model was applied to analyze influencing factors for brain metastasis. Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank test were used to compare the difference in survival time between the groups. Results Among 2563 patients with esophageal carcinoma, there were 48 cases (1.87%) with brain metastasis. The age, pathological type, T stage, N stage, incidence of extracranial metastasis, incidence of lung metastasis and incidence of liver metastasis were different between brain metastasis group and non-brain metastasis group (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that stage T4, N2 and N3 and lung metastasis were independent risk factors for brain metastasis from esophageal carcinoma (P < 0.05). The 1-year survival rate of the brain metastasis group was 18.64%, which was significantly lower than that of the non-brain metastasis group (86.93%) (P < 0.05). Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that the number of brain metastases ≥3 and the instability of primary foci were independent risk factors for the median survival time of patients with brain metastasis from esophageal carcinoma (P < 0.05), while comprehensive surgical treatment was a protective factor (P < 0.05). Conclusions Patients with stage T4 and N2 or N3 esophageal carcinoma and lung metastasis are more likely to develop brain metastasis and show poor survival status. The comprehensive surgical treatment has advantages in increasing survival benefit.