Wetlands in arid region especially in the northern Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China (NXC) are sensitive to climate change and thus have been the focus of global change studies in terms of their ecological importance. However, spatial changes in wetland area drivers are rarely considered in the analytical driver literature. This is surprising given the importance spatial heterogeneity in geomorphology and climatic conditions have in the region. This study is aimed at investigating the characteristics of wetland dynamic and determine whether this changes are relating to drought variation in NXC for a long time scale (from 1980 to 2015). Land transition matrix analysis was used to illustrate the Transition Characteristics between wetland and other land-use types, and the standard precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI) was calculated to investigate the changes of Dry–wet regime in NXC and assess the effects on wetlands. The results showed that wetlands area increased from 10,627.57 km² to 11,966.84 km² mainly caused by the conversion from grasslands and desert to wetlands during 1980–2015 in NXC. Simultaneously, SPEI showed an increasing trend during 1960–2015, indicating an alleviating tendency of drought intensity. The area of wetlands increased with the increase of SPEI, furthermore, the correlation analysis also indicated that climatic change, especially a warmer and more humid tendency, was the main factor driving the spatiotemporal changes of wetlands in NXC. These findings can contribute to a better understanding wetland changes and implementing wetland resource management and restoration.