Compact plant-type with small leaf angle has increased canopy light interception, which is conducive to the photosynthesis of the population and higher population yield at high density planting in maize. In this study, a panel of 285 diverse maize inbred lines genotyped with 56,000 SNPs was used to investigate the genetic basis of leaf angle across 3 consecutive years using a genome-wide association study (GWAS). The leaf angle showed broad phenotypic variation and high heritability across different years. Population structure analysis subdivided the panel into four subgroups that correspond to the four major empirical germplasm origins in China, i.e., Tangsipingtou, Reid, Lancaster and P. When tested with the optimal GWAS model, we found that the Q + K model was the best in reducing false positive. In total, 96 SNPs accounting for 5.54–10.44% of phenotypic variation were significantly (P < 0.0001) associated with leaf angle across three years. According to the linkage disequilibrium decay distance, 96 SNPs were binned into 43 QTLs for leaf angle. Seven major QTLs with R² > 8% stably detected in at least 2 years, and BLUP values were clustered in four genomic regions (bins 2.01, 2.07, 5.06, and 10.04). Seven important candidate genes, Zm00001d001961, Zm00001d006348, Zm00001d006463, Zm00001d017618, Zm00001d024919, Zm00001d025018, and Zm00001d025033 were predicted for the seven stable major QTLs, respectively. The markers identified in this study can be used for molecular breeding for leaf angle, and the candidate genes would contribute to further understanding of the genetic basis of leaf angle.