Understanding the relationship between urban expansion modes and regional ecological footprints is an important objective in regional sustainability research, and can provide crucial guidance for achieving urban sustainable development. However, empirical research on the relationship between urban expansion modes and ecological footprints is limited. Taking the Shandong Peninsula Urban Agglomeration as an example, the goals of the present study are to examine the characteristics of urban expansion modes and ecological footprint dynamics from 2000 to 2010, and to analyze the relationship between them. We quantified the urban expansion modes and ecological footprint dynamics using the landscape expansion index and ecological footprint model. Then, we divided the 44 counties in the study area into 4 types, and analyzed the relationship between urban expansion modes and ecological footprint dynamics among them using a correlation analysis. The results showed that urban land area of the Shandong Peninsula Urban Agglomeration increased by 1.2×10⁵ hm² (19.4%), and the average ecological deficit increased by 1.26 hm² per capita from 2000 to 2010. In all 44 counties, the area of edge-expansion growth was the largest and the ecological deficit increased. There was a significant positive correlation between epitaxial expansion areas and the ecological deficit increment in 27 counties, such as Kenli. However, 17 counties did not show significant correlations. In the future, for sustainable development in this region, controlling the area of outlying and edge-expansion growth, utilizing new clean energy, and limiting the fossil fuel footprints in several counties, such as Kenli, Zibo, and Qingdao, should be the focus.