[Objective] This study aims to identify the priority sequence of soil erosion control for small watersheds within national key soil erosion control zones in Heilongjiang Province. [Methods] Four evaluation indicators were selected, including the area ratio of slopes with gradient ≥8°, the proportion of lands suffering moderate and severe soil erosion, gully density and gully fragmentation degree. The entropy weight method was utilized to calculate the weight of each indicator and generate comprehensive evaluation scores for individual small watersheds. On this basis, the natural breakpoint classification method was adopted to categorize all small watersheds into three levels of soil erosion control priority. [Results] The Gini coefficients of all evaluation indicators ranged from 0.363 to 0.720, demonstrating that the classified priority levels exhibited an unbalanced spatial pattern at both small watershed and administrative division scales. The quantity of small watersheds classified as urgent control, priority control and routine control presented an obvious pyramidal distribution. The Kruskal-Wallis test confirmed that there existed statistically significant differences in watershed area among the three priority levels. Obvious disparities were detected in the number distribution of small watersheds with different control priorities both across administrative regions and within each single administrative unit. Small watersheds under urgent control were mainly concentrated in low mountain and hilly terrains, covering 11.35% of the total area of all 1 239 small watersheds in the study area, and containing 16 406 erosion gullies that accounted for 25.13% of the total gully number. The expected values of all four indicators showed a distinct linear decreasing trend from urgent control to priority control and then to routine control, with the coefficient of determination (R²) fluctuating between 0.843 and 0.999. For all three control priority levels, the expected indicator values of small watersheds in the Northeast Rolling Hill Plain Control Zone were consistently higher than those in the Eastern Foot of Greater Khingan Control Zone, which reflected more severe soil erosion conditions and higher urgency of comprehensive erosion treatment in the former zone. [Conclusion] In view of the universally higher expected indicator values across all control priority levels in the Northeast Rolling Hill Plain Control Zone compared with the Eastern Foot of Greater Khingan Control Zone, authorities should appropriately allocate more soil and water conservation projects and investment funds to the rolling hill plain zone. Special targeted supervision and governance should be implemented for typical regions within its urgent-control small watersheds: Muling City with the largest number of urgent-control watersheds and the most abundant erosion gullies, Didao District of Jixi City featuring the highest expected proportion of moderate-and-above eroded land, Yanshou County with the maximum expected gully density, and Hailin City that owns the highest expected gully fragmentation degree. This paper systematically elaborates the statistical characteristics and spatial distribution patterns of small watersheds with varying control priorities in Heilongjiang’s national key soil erosion control zones. Combined with multiple decision-making factors including policy orientation, territorial planning layout and public willingness, and compatible with dynamically updated multi-source geospatial data, the research results can provide scientific references for refined spatial management and control of regional soil and water conservation.