Abstract: Reasonable allocation of land elements is the key to supporting the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and scientific research and judgment on the bottleneck of land scarcity is an important prerequisite for optimizing resource allocation. This paper selects the panel data of 108 prefecture level cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2008 to 2020, and systematically investigates the spatial and temporal changes, spatial differences and influencing factors of urban land scarcity by using kernel density estimation, GIS spatial analysis, spatial autocorrelation and feasible generalized least squares (FGLS), It provides a useful reference for the realization of high-quality economic and social development supported by land resources in the Yangtze River Basin. The results show that: (1) In the study period, the urban land scarcity in the Yangtze River Economic Belt presents two stages of “acceleration period” and “vibration period”, with specific increases of 26.9%, 13.2% and 9.5% in the upstream, middle reaches and downstream respectively; The results of kernel density estimation show that the high value range of land scarcity gradually decreases, and the low and medium value regions gradually increase. (2) There is a positive spatial correlation between urban land scarcity and the change of local spatial agglomeration range is prominent, but the agglomeration effect is not significant. (3) The leading factors affecting urban land scarcity in different regions are different. Urbanization level, economic development level, population density and foreign direct investment will aggravate the scarcity of land resources, while the upgrading of industrial structure and the improvement of environmental protection level have a certain inhibitory effect. Based on the above conclusions, the Yangtze River Economic Belt should promote the upgrading of industrial structure according to local conditions, increase the investment of enterprises in environmental protection, and break the dilemma of factor scarcity under policy constraints through efficient and sustainable land use.