In view of the current situation of water resources utilization in four cities along the Yellow River Economic Zone in Ningxia, the coupling relationship model was set up on the premise of analyzing the two indexes of water shortage and social adaptation ability by the entropy method, and the water resources shortage and social adaptability in the economic zone along the Yellow River in Ningxia were made from three aspects: the comprehensive evaluation value, coordination degree and coupling coordination degree. The relationship of capacity coupling and coordination was analyzed. The results were as follows: the comprehensive evaluation of water resources shortage for four cities along the Yellow River Economic Zone in Ningxia were ranked in order of Yinchuan, Shizuishan, Zhong Wei and Wuzhong. The comprehensive evaluation of social adaptation from large to small were Yinchuan, Wu Zhong, Shizuishan and Zhong Wei. The degree of coordination between water shortage and social adaptation in Ningxia in 2016 was basically in two stages: moderate imbalance and high quality coupling. Yinchuan, Shizuishan and Zhong Wei were in high quality coupling, but Wuzhong City was in a moderate state of imbalance; The coupling coordination degree of water shortage and social adaptability in Ningxia Economic Zone in 2016 was basically in two stages: coupling coordination and imbalance decline, with Yinchuan, Shizuishan and Zhong Wei were in good coupling and coordination period, intermediate coupling coordination period and reluctant coupling period, respectively, and Wuzhong in a period of extreme misalignment.