Abstract The worldwide spread of E. coli ST131 has significantly contributed to the dissemination of E. coli producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL). In a French University hospital, we assessed the molecular features of ESBL-producing E. coli and identified risk factors in patients for colonization or infection with E. coli ST131. Over a 2-year period (2015–2017), each patient with at least one clinical isolate or one screening isolate positive with ESBL-producing E. coli were included (n = 491). The ST131 clonal group accounted for 17.5% (n = 86) of all ESBL-producing E. coli and represented 57.3% isolates of phylogroup B2. FimH -based sub-typing showed that 79.1% (68/86) of ST131 isolates were fimH30, among which 67.6% (n = 46), 20.6% (n = 14) and 11.8% (n = 8) isolates harbored genes encoding the ESBL CTX-M-15, CTX-M-27, and CTX-M-14, respectively. The multivariate analysis identified two factors independently associated with ST131 ESBL-producing E. coli isolates: infection (Odds ratio [OR] = 1.887, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.143–3.115; p = 0.013) and community acquisition (OR = 2.220, 95% CI: 1.335–3.693; p = 0.002). In conclusion, our study confirmed the predominance of ST131 clonal group among ESBL-producing E. coli and the difficulty to identify common risk factors associated with carriage of this pandemic clonal group.