<p>This research attempts to study the long-term trends and change points in soil moisture and potential evapotranspiration across Pakistan’s five homogeneous climatic zones from 1951 to 2020. In doing so, it detects the direction of trend as well as the years of abrupt changes. The study employed two non-parametric tests: Mann-Kendall trend test and Pettitt’s test to assess monotonic trends and potential change points respectively. The findings reveal increasing trends in soil moisture levels at most of the zones, with Z-values predominantly ranging between + 1.5 and + 3.5 during the entire period across Pakistan, except in the southern regions, which exhibit decreasing patterns with a Z-value of up to -5. Similarly, on a seasonal scale, increasing trends have been noted across all seasons, except for winter, which presents a decreasing pattern in the northwestern and southern parts of the country, with trend value reaching up to -2.80 and − 3.48, respectively. On the other hand, an increasing trend in potential evapotranspiration has been observed across the arid and semi-arid southern zones, with the strongest increases after the mid-1970s, and decreased trends across the cold northern zones. The breakpoint analysis exposed inter-zonal and inter-seasonal variability, with significant changes in zonal mean soil moisture primarily occurring after 1975. Seasonal analysis indicated abrupt fluctuations between 1970 and 1980. However, a delayed shift in potential evapotranspiration has been noticed, with a zonal average displaying major shifts between 1980 and 2000, and seasonal variability in breakpoints mainly occurring after 1975. These joint patterns potential evapotranspiration and precipitation, point to long-term hydroclimatic shifts, demonstrating the importance of climatic resilient agricultural planning and adaptive water management in Pakistan.</p>