Scientific cognition and evaluation on resources-environment carrying capacity is the basis and prerequisite for territorial spatial planning. From the perspective of sustainable urban ecosystem management, the evaluation framework and theoretical model for resources-environment carrying capacity and indices of "potential" (RECCp) and "realistic" (RECC) resources-environment carrying capacity were proposed. Taking Yantai city as an example, we use the trade-off coefficient method to discuss the relationship between RECCp and RECC. Results showed that the RECCp was overall high while RECC was medium in Yantai city. There were significant regional differences between districts (counties). The shortage of water resources and environmental pollution were bottlenecks that would restrict the sustainable development of urban ecosystem in the future. The impacts of human activities on RECC in areas with low supply of ecosystem services were more obvious than those in areas with high supply. The impacts of human activities on RECCp were significant in urban fringe areas. This research could enrich the theoretical methods for evaluation of resources-environment carrying capacity and provide decision-making support for land use optimization.