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Rapid urbanization, as a powerful engine supporting sustainable and healthy economic development, is an important force influencing the transformation of the socio–ecological system (SES). Assessing the spatial–temporal evolution of the SES's vulnerability under rapid urbanization is an important contribution to promoting regional sustainable development. Therefore, this study took the Loess Plateau as a case area, and, on the basis of constructing the SES's vulnerability evaluation index system, applied the integrated index method to analyze the spatial–temporal evolution of the SES's vulnerability of the Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2020 with the help of ArcGIS and Origin software and used the dominant factor method to identify the dominant factors affecting high-vulnerability areas. The results show that: (1) the SES's vulnerability of the Loess Plateau fluctuated and decreased. The overall distribution pattern was "high in the north/south, low in the middle". (2) The SES's exposure, sensitivity, and adaptability were all on the rise. Exposure and adaptability showed a distribution pattern of "high in the northwest and southeast, low in the southwest", while sensitivity was "high in the north/south, low in the east". (3) The dominant factors affecting high-vulnerability areas included exposure-dominant, sensitivity-dominant, exposure-sensitive-dominant, exposure-adaptation-dominant, sensitivity-adaptation-dominant, and strong-vulnerable-dominant types. Except for strong-vulnerable-dominant and exposure-dominant, the number of all other types of counties fluctuated upward. Finally, It was proposed policy recommendations to reduce vulnerability in high-vulnerability areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]