In order to promote the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, we took the Yellow River Basin as the geographical unit, and systematically analyzed the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of the quantity and quality of cultivated land in counties and cities of Shaanxi Province on the west bank of the Yellow River and its variation at the county scale. Based on the evaluation results of cultivated land quality from 2005 to 2018 in Shaanxi Province, we studied the change of cultivated land quality in counties and cities of Shaanxi province on the west bank of the Yellow River by using dynamic attitude model method, area-weighted averages method, cultivated land quality location index method and gravity center migration model. The results showed that: in terms of time, from 2005 to 2018, the quantity of cultivated land resources in counties and cities in Shaanxi on the west bank of the Yellow River presented the declining trend, while the average utilization of cultivated land resources in quality was not high and changed little; in terms of quantity, the annual average decline rate was 5.86%, from 2005 to 2010, from 2010 to 2015, and from 2015 to 2018, the average annual change rate was 17.46%, 3.58%, and 1.60%, respectively, the change of cultivated land was more stable; in terms of quality, the average utilization in 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018 was not high and changed little, which were 12.46, 12.60, 12.50 and 12.50, respectively; compared with the national average utilization grade of cultivated land of 9.96, the utilization grade of cultivated land of all counties and cities in Shaanxi Province on the west bank of the Yellow River was at a lower level; compared with the average utilization grade of cultivated land of Shaanxi Province, which was 11.34, the average utilization grade of cultivated land was about one lower than that of Shaanxi Province; spatially, the cultivated land quality of each county or city in Shaanxi Province on the west bank of the Yellow River showed a pattern of gradual decrease from south to north from 2005 to 2018; from cultivated land location index point of view, Guanzhong plain, Tongguan county and Dali county had high grade cultivated land utilization, which were the gathering areas of higher grade cultivated lands; however, the quality of cultivated land had declined due to the occupation of high grade cultivated land for urban construction and the supplement of general cultivated land; the cultivated land in northern Shaanxi was poor quality, and the location index of middle and low grade cultivated lands was high; the cultivated land utilization had been improved due to the active development of land improvement projects; from the point of view of center of gravity transfer, from 2005 to 2018, the center of gravity of the high grade cultivated land was located in Dali, the center of gravity of the middle grade cultivated land was transferred from Heyang to Huanglong, the center of gravity of the low grade cultivated land was transferred from Jiaxian to Mizhi and then back to Jiaxian, with the characteristic of middle grade cultivated land center of gravity coordinate migration>low grade cultivated land center of gravity coordinate migration>high cultivated grade land center of gravity coordinate migration; on the west bank of the Yellow River, the quantity and quality of cultivated land in all counties and cities of Shaanxi became more and more stable; the cultivated land quality generally presented the pattern of gradual decline from south to north. So the cultivated land quality in Tongguan and Dali should not be reduced while the growing trend of cultivated land quality in north Shaanxi county on the west bank of the Yellow River should be maintained. These results of this study can provide farmland management and protection support for the ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin, and provide basic support for the delineation of basic farmland, the compilation of territorial space planning and the quality management of farmland.