[Objective] The characteristics and influencing factors of cultivated land changes in the Yellow River alluvial area of Southwest Shandong Province were analysed order to provide a scientific basis for regional cultivated land protection. [Methods] Using 2 m high-resolution remote sensing images and data from the ‘Heze statistical yearbook’, various methods including remote sensing interpretation, centre of gravity model, cold and hot spot analysis, and geographical detector were used to analyse land change characteristics and influencing factors of cultivated land in the Yellow River alluvial area of Southwest Shandong from 2019 to 2022. [Results] ① During 2019—2022, the arable land in the Yellow River alluvial area of Southwest Shandong Province accounts for more than 60% of the area, and there was annual cultivated land loss in the studied region, with a decreasing trend year by year. The arable land area in Yuncheng County decreased the most, reaching 18.28 km², and farmland dynamic attitude in Juancheng County changed the most, reaching -2.26%. The centre of gravity of cultivated land migrated to the Southwest and Northeast of Shandong Province. ② The outflow area of cultivated land was higher than that of the inflow area, and the main outflow and inflow directions were both construction and forest land. The area with the most concentrated cultivated land change was mainly distributed in the southern part of Caoxian County. ③ The single factors affecting the change in cultivated land were mainly rural employees (X₅); the two-factor interactive combination was mainly the intersection of the number of rural labour resources (X₄) and the per capita income of urban residents (X₆). [Conclusion] The loss of cultivated land in the Yellow River alluvial area of Southwest Shandong Province from 2019 to 2022 is the result of the comprehensive effect of multiple factors based on economic and social factors.