[Objective] Taking Ma’anshan City of Anhui Province, a resource-based city in transition, as the research object, the influence of urban expansion on the habitat quality of this city was studied, aiming at providing reference for realizing regional sustainable development. [Methods] Based on the Globe Land30 data in 2000, 2010 and 2020, the urban land expansion was studied by means of center of gravity analysis and standard deviation ellipse, and the habitat quality of Ma’anshan City was calculated. In addition, the PLUS model was used to simulate land use change under different scenarios to analyze the impact of urban expansion on habitat quality change. [Results] ① From 2000 to 2020, the construction land and water areas increased significantly in Ma’anshan City, while the areas of other land types decreased. ② Over the same period, habitat quality in Ma’anshan City showed a downward trend, with lower habitat quality in the central plain and higher quality in the eastern and western regions. These results indicate that the spatial distribution of habitat quality is closely related to topography, land use types, and the intensity of human activities. ③ Under three scenarios-natural development, economic development, and ecological protection-the habitat quality indices for Ma’anshan City were 0.448, 0.451, and 0.459, respectively, indicating habitat quality degradation in all scenarios. [Conclusion] Urban expansion has led to a decline in habitat quality in Ma’anshan City. The ecological protection scenario yielded the highest habitat quality index, suggesting it is the most favorable development trend.