Indexes emphasize the correct direction of evolution and play the role of adjusting deviation, analyzing the patterns of evolution, and understanding influence. This paper, for the first time, used integrated application of City Development Index (CDI) and Ecological Footprint (EF) to analyze the status of sustainable development of China's municipalities during the 1978-2012 period. They were also used for the measurement of the transformation degrees of these municipalities' development from resource-consumption mode to environment-friendly mode. The results demonstrated that the CDI of each municipality has been increasing continuously. The CDI value of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing were 86.25, 83.75, 70.60,and 79.83 respectively in 2012. Each municipality reached almost the same level 80 in 2012. Overall, city economic and social development conditions were both favorable. Although four municipalities' CDI value began at different levels and suffered from different growth rates, through more than 30 years of city construction, they reached almost the same destination. Compared with other cities' CDIs from around the world, the CDI value of China's municipalities ranked in the upper medium. Different from the variations in CDI values, variations in EF values showed the characteristics of stage development. There are significant differences among municipalities. In contrast to the EF value of Shanghai, the EF values of the other three municipalities presented a rising tendency. Since 2005, the EF value of Shanghai began to decline. Among the other three municipalities, the EF value of Beijing grew slowest, with a growth rate of about 14%, while the EF value of Tianjin grew fastest, with a growth rate of about 47%. The EF value of Beijing was highest (2.60 hm²/cap), while that of Chongqing was lowest (1.79 hm²/cap). Chongqing was the only municipality whose value stayed below the national average. After a comprehensive analysis of CDI and EF values to evaluate the status of sustainable development of China's municipalities, the four cities were divided into two groups. Shanghai and Chongqing were in the group that carried out effective control of EF values and kept CDI in a good development trend. Beijing and Tianjin were in the other group, because these two cities consumed more environmental resources to achieve the same share of city development. Tianjin's development mode in particular needs to be re-examined. The consumption of EF per CDI in Beijing was high, due to a large base and a large total amount. However, since 2000, the consumption of EF per CDI in Beijing has been effectively controlled and reduced in the last ten years, indicating that Beijing has realized that the city was facing the challenges of sustainable development. Thus, Beijing changed the mode of city construction from resource consumption to environment friendly. To sum up, Chongqing has maintained a rapid growth and stays in the city construction mode of environment friendly. Tianjin has been in the development mode of resource consumption, which needs to be changed as soon as possible. In the past decade, Shanghai and Beijing's ecological civilization construction patterns went through certain changes, from the model of development at the expense of resource consumption into environment friendly.