Based upon an annual parallax shift of 6.64 mas as seen from Earth, it is located around 490 light years from the Sun.

With an apparent visual magnitude of +4.82,[2] the star is bright enough to be faintly visible to the naked eye.

This is an evolved orange-hued K-type giant star with a stellar classification of K2/3 III CNIb/II,[3] where the suffix indicates it is a chemically peculiar star with a strong CN band.

It is radiating 426.6 times the solar luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,320 K.[6] In Chinese caused by adaptation of the European southern hemisphere constellations into the Chinese system, 夾白 (Jiá Bái), meaning White Patches Attached, refers to an asterism consisting of θ Doradus and α Reticuli.

Consequently, θ Doradus itself is known as 夾白一 (Jiá Bái yī, English: the First Star of White Patches Attached.