Maize (Zea mays L.) height morphological traits (i.e., plant height, ear height, and ear ratio) are important parts of maize plant type structure and have played an important role in the improvement of maize lodging resistance and historical increases in grain yield. In this study, field experiments were conducted from 2013 to 2016 at 23 sites in China between 26°30′–46°45′ N latitude and 81°19′–130°16′ E longitude. Five common cultivars and one planting density (6.0 × 10⁴ plants ha⁻¹) were used to determine the amplitude of variation in maize height morphological traits for the same cultivars and the differences in maize height morphological traits between different cultivars. The results elucidated that the main factors affecting maize height morphological traits and characterize the responses of aboveground dry matter (DM) and grain yield to differences in plant height over a wide range of environmental conditions. The findings showed that for cultivars Denghai 11 (DH11), Nonghua 101 (NH101), Xianyu 335 (XY335), Zhengdan 958 (ZD958), and Zhongdan 909 (ZD909), plant heights ranged from 233.1 to 395.3, 240.7–389.6, 246.0–370.0, 201.8–327.3, and 199.1–346.7 cm, respectively, ear heights ranged from 93.2 to 186.0, 64.6–146.5, 70.5–170.0, 71.1–168.3, and 66.2–150.7 cm, respectively, and ear ratios ranged from 0.33 to 0.49, 0.26–0.47, 0.26–0.49, 0.35–0.54, and 0.32–0.50, across all sites and years. Furthermore, the mean internode length and mean internode length below the primary ear were found to be the main contributors to the differences in plant height and ear height, respectively. Additionally, the results of stepwise regression indicated that both plant height and ear height were mainly affected by photoperiod and minimum temperature but the major climatic variables influencing ear ratio varied among different cultivars. Moreover, a linear model showed that, for every 10 cm increase in maize plant height, the DM at silking, DM at physiological maturity, and grain yield increased by approximately 0.41 t ha⁻¹, 0.87 t ha⁻¹, and 0.38 t ha⁻¹, respectively.