It is roughly 860 light years from Earth with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.0.

[5] This is a probable spectroscopic binary with two roughly equal components.

[11] The spectrum matches a stellar classification of K5-III CN0.5,[3] which would normally indicate an evolved, orange-hued giant star of type K that has a mild overabundance of cyanogen in the outer atmosphere.

The estimated diameter is around 96 times that of the Sun,[7] and it is radiating approximately 1,618[8] times the Sun's luminosity from an expanded photosphere at an effective temperature of 3,962 K.[9] Photometry from the Hipparcos satellite mission shows that θ Ursae Minoris varies in brightness by a few hundredths of a magnitude.

It is listed as NSV 20342 in the New Catalogue of Suspected Variable Stars.