Since the reform and opening up of China, income growth has become an important factor influencing the consumption growth of Hunan urban residents. In different periods, urban residents in Hunan have faced different consumption environment and chosen different consumption patterns. At the beginning of the reform and opening up, urban residents' consumption behaviors were sensitive to some regular factors, and since the mid 1990s, the consumption behaviors have mainly been influenced by their income and future uncertainties. Efforts should be made to improve the urban residents' income, to stabilize future income growth expectations, to establish and improve the social security system in accordance with the socialist market economy, to promote consumer financial development in an allround way, and then to increase the consumption of Hunan urban residents rapidly.