AbstractSoils and climate influence soil nutrient supply, crop nutrient demand, and potential yield. We collected soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] data of seed yield and nutrient uptake from field students (n = 657) in Northeast China (2001–2017) to study spatial distribution of attainable yield, yield response to fertilizer, and crop nutrient requirements at regional scale. The study area was divided in four weather regions based on daily average temperature and cumulative precipitation during the soybean growth season. Average attainable yield was 3.2, 3.1, 2.9, and 2.6 Mg ha–1 in warm‐wet, warm‐dry, cold‐wet, and cold‐dry regions, respectively. Soybean yield response to N, P, and K fertilizers and requirement of these nutrients presented the following order for each region from high to low: cold‐wet > warm‐dry > cold‐dry > warm‐wet regions, with exception for K requirement. In overall, spatial correlation in yield response to fertilizer and nutrient requirement ranked in the following order: P > K > N across all the climate regions. Based on the variation in attainable yield, balanced fertilization should be pursued to more sustainable higher soybean yields in the warm‐dry and cold‐wet regions with favorable weather conditions; while for the cold‐dry region, fertilization needs to address the topic of improving P use efficiency, as future research prioritizes from both environmental and productivity standpoints.