Residential Historic Area (RHA) has been facing the problems of traditional function decline, indigenous population loss, gentrification and over-commercialization etc. In order to safeguard these “living heritages”, it is crucial to establish an effective index system for heritage site monitoring and management. This paper applied the 2022 national index framework of Urban Physical Examination (UPE) in China to guide the design of UPE index system specifically for RHA. Taking Jiangsu province as the research subject, we conducted a social survey and statistics in eight typical RHAs, with the purpose of screening out the most concerned indexes for RHA residents from the recommended “basic indexes” on the basis of importance-performance analysis. Meanwhile, respondents were encouraged to supplement other essential issues for them, which will be summarized into “characteristic indexes” for RHA using rooted theory methods. Additionally, to improve the effectiveness of index application, the specific values of quantitative indexes remain highly consistent with national standards in China, and mainstream studies.