[Objective] The land use change and ecological risk in recent four decades in Bashang area of Hebei Province were investigated to provide scientific basis for local ecological construction and management, as well as sustainable development in this region. [Methods] Land transfer matrix and the spatial autocorrelation analysis were used to reveal the land use change and evaluate the level of ecological risk of Bashang area, based on land-use data at five stages during 1980—2018. [Results] ① Cultivated land was the main type of land use, covering half of the study area. During the years of 1980—2018, cultivated land and forest land expanded by more than 300 km², while the area of grassland decreased by 616.60 km² and waterland narrowed roughly by 36.04%. Among them, cultivated land, forest land and grassland showed a relatively strong mutual transfer, and the spatial change showed that the center of gravity of each category was obviously transferred from 2000 to 2010. ② From 1980 to 2026, the value of Moran's I index all approached nearly 0.500 in each stage, which indicated that the spatial distribution of ecological risk presented higher convergence and agglomeration. ③ In recent four decades, the ecological risk level of Bashang area had risen to high risk level, with an increase of 123.22 km² and higher risk region mainly distributed in urban areas. According to CA-Markov model, the medium and above risk areas in Bashang area would continue to expand and Fengning County and Weichang County would appear small-scale high-risk areas and higher-risk areas. [Conclusion] ① In the past 40 years, the grassland in Bashang area had degraded seriously and the main reason for the significant decrease of water area was the drying up of the Angulinao Lake. ② The level of ecological risk in Bashang area had a strong correlation with the distribution of land pattern, and would continue to rise in the future.