With the vigorous development of China's waxy maize industry, more and more waxy maize varieties have been approved. In this study, 308 approved waxy maize hybrids were used as materials to analyze by SSR markers the genetic diversity and genetic relationship of waxy maize hybrids from the aspects of year and suitable planting area. The results showed that a total of 529 alleles or 1480 genotypes were detected on 40 SSR markers in the 308 waxy maize varieties, and the PIC range was 0.226-0.890, with an average of 0.684. From the perspective of approval time, the genetic diversity index of approved varieties fluctuated little from year to year, and the highest genetic diversity of approved varieties in 2015 (0.720). From the perspective of suitable planting area, the PIC index of varieties in Xinan area was the highest, and the genetic distance between the varieties in Xinan area and those in other planting areas was the farthest, with an average of 0.0217. The results of cluster analysis showed that some varieties in Xinan area were clustered into a group, presenting certain regional characteristics. Among these cluster groups, Group III represented by ‘Jing Kenuo 2000’ had the largest number of varieties, and was distributed independently in the main coordinate map, which showed that the emergence of excellent varieties and the promotion of hetero-excellent model could enrich and broaden the genetic diversity of varieties, which would provide guidance for the improvement of new waxy maize varieties, and promote the development of waxy maize industry.