[Objective] The spatial distribution patterns of cultivated land and the driving mechanisms of its evolution were studied in order to provide a reference for strictly observing the red line of cultivated land protection, and to formulate farmland resource protection policies and measures in order to optimize the pattern of farmland protection in the Ningxia Eco-economic Belt along the Yellow River. [Methods] Land change survey data and socio-economic data, in conjunction with methods such as nuclear density, spatial autocorrelation, land use dynamics, transfer matrix, and binary Logistic regression modeling were used to analyze the spatial distribution, spatio-temporal evolution, and driving mechanism of cultivated land in the study area from 2010 to 2018. [Results] ① The spatial distribution of cultivated land in the study area showed obvious differences. The overall distribution was mainly in the middle and low density areas, and the distribution evolved from low and high density areas to medium density areas. ② The spatial distribution of arable land was positive. The high-high clustering areas were mainly concentrated in the Yinchuan Plain, and the low-low clustering areas were located in the eastern part of Lingwu City, the central and western parts of Shapotou, and other ecologically fragile areas. ③ The two-way transfer of cultivated land in the study area was an ecological conversion system dominated by unused land-cultivated land-construction land. The amount of cultivated land had been steadily increasing. ④ Cultivated land dynamic changes had obvious spatial clustering that was proportional to the distance from the city and inversely proportional to the city size. ⑤ Natural condition factors were the main driving factors for increases in cultivated land, and socioeconomic factors were the main driving factors for decreases in cultivated land. [Conclusion] The protection of cultivated land in the Ningxia Eco-economic Belt along the Yellow River has basically achieved a dynamic balance. Cultivated land change is based on certain natural condition factors, and is a process of benefit selection under the comprehensive effects of economic, population, and other socio-economic factors.