In order to explore the frequent changes in land use caused by the rapid development of the industrial and agricultural economy along the Yellow Economic Zone. Based on GIS spatial analysis technology, take Yinchuan Plain as the investigated area, this paper used five periods of land use data from 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2018. Land use transfer matrix, land use geo-informatic spectrum, standard deviation ellipse, hotspot analysis and density analysis approaches were used to explore the evolution of land use quantity structure and characteristics of spatial pattern in this area from 1980 to 2018. The results showed that ①the dominant types of land use during the research period were cultivated land and unused land. The area of construction land and cultivated land increased significantly, and the grassland and unused land decreased dramatically, which were mainly reclaimed for cultivated land. The construction land was mainly transferred from cultivated land. Forest land and water body were less converted, but the area was reduced overall. ②In terms of spatial differentiation characteristics, the spectrum unit was dominated by the conversion of water body to grasslands and cultivated land, concentrated in Pingluo County, the foot of the Helan Mountains, and east of the Yellor River. Another great change of spectrum unit was the conversion of cultivated land to construction land, located mainly in Qingtongxia City and Litong District.③The change of land use types spatially demonstrated a centralized distribution trend from northeast to southwest, and the coverage gradually expands during the period.④Cities alone the Yellow River are dominated by cultivated land, residential areas, and construction land. The rapid development of industry and agriculture economy has accelerated the transformation of land types and made them a hot spot and dense area for land use change. Helan Mountain Nature Reserve and Baijitan Ecological Reserve, whose main land use types were woodland and desert grassland, are the main cold spots area of land use in the Yinchuan Plain.