Due to the fact that an inquiry made into the spatial differentiation of land-use carbon emissions and carbon balance zoning in the Yangtze River Economic Belt helps to facilitate its high-quality coordinated development, based on the estimated results of carbon emissions from land use between 2009 and 2021, the carbon balance zoning status can be reflected through the economic contribution coefficient of carbon emissions and the carbon ecological carrying coefficient. The research results show that both land use carbon sources and sinks have increased over time, with significant increases in carbon sources in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, and significant increases in carbon sinks in the Yunnan Guizhou region. The carbon emission economic contribution coefficient is higher in the east and lower in the west, and the carbon ecological carrying coefficient is higher in the west and lower in the east, with significant differences within the upstream, midstream, and downstream regions; the zoning of carbon emissions and economic development has gradually shifted from four types: low-carbon conservation zones, economic development zones, carbon sink development zones, and comprehensive optimization zones to two types: low-carbon conservation zones and carbon sink development zones. Therefore, within the region, coordinated development should be promoted based on differentiation, with the economic contribution rate of carbon emissions in Yunnan and Guizhou still being low. Emphasis should be placed on the consideration of how to use local ecological resources as new-quality productive forces to achieve the improvement of carbon productivity and economic development level. In the middle reaches, clean development should be better promoted through industrial transformation in the process of constructing a manufacturing base. As a carbon sink development area in the lower reaches, the spatial development pattern should be optimized, with the carbon sink effect to be enhanced.