Background: There is a heated debate on whether or not a late-stage cancer patient with bone metastasis should receive primary surgery. The aim was to assess whether primary tumor surgery in cancer patients with bone metastasis was associated with improved survival. Methods: Cancer patients with bone metastasis were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database between 2010 and 2016. Overall survival and cancer-specific survival were compared between patients with and without primary tumor surgery using risk-adjusted Cox proportional hazard regression models and stratified propensity score methods. Further nomograms were constructed to predict personalized survival. Results: Overall, 22,631 cancer patients with synchronous bone metastasis were identified and the surgery rates were 33.3%, 76.3%, 42.0% and 2.0% for breast, bladder, renal and lung cancer, respectively. In Cox regression analysis after propensity score matching, primary cancer surgery was associated with a significantly improved overall survival for breast [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.56], bladder (HR = 0.69), lung (HR = 0.61) and renal carcinoma (HR = 0.37), while the prolonged median survival time was 20 months, 3 months, 4months and 21 months, respectively. Nomograms were constructed based on predictive factors, showing good consistency between the actual and predicted outcomes (C-index between 0.697 to 0.750) and feasibility in clinical practice. Conclusions: This population-based cohort of cancer patients with bone metastasis supports primary tumor surgery as a significant protective factor for cancer patients with bone metastasis, and nomograms hold promise in assisting individualized risk stratification and accurate therapeutic strategy making.