To realize the coordinated development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, it is important to promote the industrial cluster cultivation and orderly industrial transfer. Based on an analysis on development zones, this paper depicts the characteristic differentiations of industrial structures and industrial agglomeration patterns in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Then we specially look into the evolution characteristics of technology, capital and labor intensive industries in development zones. The results show that compared with the whole China, there exist obvious advantages for the equipment manufacturing, electronic information, automobile and parts, new material, new energy and other technology-intensive industries in development zones of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. However, in the development zones, there are significant gradient differences among downstream, middle and upstream of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in terms of the industrial development levels. Secondly, the industrial distribution mainly relies on the “urban agglomeration and central city” in space. Labor-intensive industries are partially aggregate and averagely disperse, and capital-intensive industries mostly flourish in places that are favorable in capital, natural resource endowment or geographical location while technology-intensive industries have formed clusters of different scales. We find that, how to advance the industrial structure in development zones of the Yangtze River Economic Belt is related to its establishment time. The earlier the development zone is established, the more advanced industrial level will be. Furthermore, the industrial development stages of different areas’ development zones are distinguished, and the development of downstream areas is more advanced. Besides, the spatial correlation among three categories of industries appears to be stronger and stronger, from relatively unbalanced to coordinated development. Finally, combined with the case analysis of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and relevant theoretical basis, this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework of industrial cluster cultivation and orderly industrial transfer based on development zones and puts forward some policy recommendations. In the future, during the construction of world-class industrial clusters in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the role of either national-level or provincial-level development zones acting in industry-cluster growth mode is indispensable. At the same time, in combination with industrial development gradient and industrial (technological) linkages, various development zones will be formed as carriers to promote orderly industrial transfer, which is an important way to realize regional cooperation and coordinated development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.