With an apparent visual magnitude of 11.15,[3] it is much too faint to be viewed with the naked eye.

The distance to YZ CMi can be estimated from its annual parallax shift of 167 mas, yielding a value of 19.5 light years.

Presently the star is moving further away with a heliocentric radial velocity of +26.5 km/s.

[5] It made its closest approach some 162,000 years ago when it made perihelion passage at a distance of 10.2 ly.

[14] YZ CMi is a potential member of the Beta Pictoris moving group.