In order to determine the appropriate nitrogen （N） fertilizer application rate for maize under straw returning in the black soil of central Northeast China， a site?specific field experiment from 2017 to 2020 was conducted in Gongzhuling County of Jilin Province. The experiment had set 6 different N fertilizer rates （0， 70， 140， 210， 280 and 350 kg/hm²）to analyze the effects of N on maize yield， N fertilizer utilization efficiency and soil N balance under straw returning， and to explore the relationship among N fertilizer rate， maize yield and N surplus rate under straw return. The results showed that the maize yield first increased and then decreased with the increase of N fertilizer application rate under straw returning condition， but the amount of N application to obtain the highest yield was decreasing with the extension of experiment， reduced by 15.8%. The cumulative agronomic efficiency， the recovery efficiency and the partial factor productivity of N application in maize all decreased with increasing rate of N fertilizer application. In additin， soil N residues were significantly increased by 13.0% and 33.6% at high N application rates （280 and 350 kg/hm²） compared with the soil before planting， respectively， while their cumulative apparent N losses reached 578 and 833 kg/hm². The correlation analysis showed that the N fertilizer rate was 188.9 kg/hm²， yield was 11 850 kg/hm²， N recovery efficiency was 40.1% and N loss was 65.7 kg/hm² when the surplus rate was 0. The results indicated that the appropriate N fertilizer rate under straw returning conditions could significantly improve maize yield and N use efficiency， and reduce the apparent N loss. Considering the crop yield， theoretical surplus rate and apparent soil N balance， to apply 179.5-198.4 kg/hm² N fertilizer was the appreciate range under long?term straw incorporation in the experiment region.