[Objective] The purpose of this paper is to measure the coupling coordination of urban land use and the economic-social-environmental system in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and investigate its spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics and driving factors, and then to provide decision-making for promoting sustainable land use and high-quality coordinated development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. [Methods] Based on the panel data of 108 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2006 to 2019, this study constructed an indicator system of land use and economic-social-environment system, measured the coupled coordination degree using the entropy weight method and coupled coordination degree model, and examined its spatial and temporal divergence characteristics and driving factors with the methods of Dagum Gini coefficient, Moran index and geographically weighted regression model. [Results] The coupling coordination degree of land use and economic-social-environment in the Yangtze River Economic Belt increased from 0.309 to 0.477 during 2006—2019, transferring from mild disorder to barely coordinated. The coupling coordination degree decreased from downstream to upstream regions, showing a spatial distribution characteristics of the high level in the east and low level in the west. The overall, intra-regional, and inter-regional differences in coupling coordination showed a decreasing trend. The inter-regional variance was the main explanation for the overall variance, and its contribution increased from 43.67% to 46.88%. The Moran′s I of coupling coordination increased from 0.095 to 0.134, with significant positive spatial autocorrelation, and the ‘High-High’ agglomeration area mainly distributed in the lower reaches, while the ‘Low-Low’ agglomeration areas mainly distributed in the middle and upper reaches. Topographic relief and slope showed a negative driving force, urbanization level and foreign direct investment showed a positive driving force, and population density showed a two-level driving force. [Conclusion] The coupled coordination of land use and economic-social-environment in the Yangtze River Economic Belt has spatial and temporal heterogeneity, and differentiated land use policies should be formulated with full consideration of regional characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]