As one of the ecologically fragile areas in China, Xinjiang has been seriously disturbed by climate and human factors for many years, which has degraded its ecosystem. The clustering characteristics of ecological vulnerability in Xinjiang and the presentation of Xinjiang’s ecological fragile areas at the county scale and different land types are still to be further explored. This study adopts the evaluation model of “sensitivity-resilience-pressure” and selects 15 evaluation indicators. The study used principal component analysis and geographical detector methods to evaluate the ecological vulnerability and driving forces of Xinjiang from 2000 to 2019. The aim is to explore the spatiotemporal changes, clustering characteristics, and the degree of vulnerability in different land types, as well as the impact of each indicator on the ecological vulnerability index in Xinjiang. (1) Over the period of 2000-2019, the ecological vulnerability index of Xinjiang showed a fluctuating downward trend. The proportion of different vulnerability levels fluctuated significantly, with the proportion of each level showing an initial increase, followed by a decrease, and then another increase. The vulnerability levels all shifted towards lower levels or remained unchanged. (2) Spatially, the ecological vulnerability in Xinjiang over the past 20 years exhibited a “high in the south and low in the north” distribution pattern. At the county scale, the north-south differentiation of ecological vulnerability was significant, with the Tianshan Mountains acting as a boundary, forming a high vulnerability zone in the south, a low vulnerability zone in the north, and a medium vulnerability zone in the east. (3) The ecological vulnerability in Xinjiang exhibited a “hot in the south and cold in the north” aggregation pattern. The proportion of ecological vulnerability levels in different land types showed little variation, while the vulnerability levels demonstrated a fluctuating and decreasing trend towards improvement. (4) Both single-factor detector and interaction detector proved that Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC), precipitation, Net Primary Productivity (NPP), dryness, annual average temperature, and Soil Organic Matter were the main influencing factors of ecological vulnerability in Xinjiang. The research results can provide scientific reference and decision-making basis for ecological environmental protection and sustainable development in Xinjiang.