The present work is concerned with characterization of surface roughness and inhomogeneity of four kinds of hot-rolled carbon steels in terms of the fractal dimension and the depression parameter by using image analysis method and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, respectively. From the analysis of the 3D AFM image, it is realized that all the hot-rolled steel surfaces show the self-affine fractal property. The values of the fractal dimension of the hot-rolled steels were determined by the analyses of the AFM images on the basis of both the perimeter-area method and the triangulation method. In addition, the Nyquist plots were found to be depressed from a perfect semicircle form. From the experimental findings, the changes in the values of the fractal dimension and the depression parameter with chemical composition have been discussed in terms of the change in the value of hardness of base steel.