A case study of Dafeng City of Jiangsu Province was carried out to explore soil heavy metal pollution in the coast development zone. A total of 162 topsoil samples were collected in 2014, the contents of Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, As, Hg and Ni were measured, the spatial distribution characteristics and the correlation of heavy metals with the land use were studied, and the possible sources of these heavy metals were discussed by the principal component analysis. The results showed that the average contents of Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, As, Hg and Ni were 17.40, 74.38, 18.14, 0.105, 55.58, 8.33, 0.074 and 25.73 mg/kg, respectively, and with the little coefficient variation between the different sampling points. Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Hg and Ni gradually increased in three areas of 0–15 m, 15–30 km and 30–45 km from the coast to inland along the vertical direction of the coastline, while As gradually decreased and Cd first increased and then decreased. The highest contents of Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Hg and Ni were all in paddy soil, the highest content of Cd in dryland soil, and the highest content of As in beach land soil. As was not significantly correlated with the other heavy metals, Cd was extremely significantly correlated (P<0.01) with Zn, Pb, Hg and Cr, while Cd was not significantly correlated with Cu, As and Ni. The principal component analysis showed that the accumulation of Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, Hg and Ni in soil were more affected by soil parent material, the accumulation of Cd affected by phosphate fertilization, the accumulation of As also affected a little by phosphate fertilization, while rice planting may decrease the content of soil As. The findings can provide guidance for land use planning of coastal development zone.