Abstract  [Aim]  To investigate the arthropod community composition and maize yield of maize fields intercropped with soybeans, and thereby promote the development of an integrated pest management system for maize-soybean pests in Yunnan. [Methods]  The species and number of arthropods in intercropped maize-soybean fields in 2019 and 2020 were investigated and recorded by five-point sampling, using visual observation, sweep sampling, pit-fall traps and yellow, sticky-board traps. The community characteristic index, stability analysis, and temporal niche analysis, of the main pests and their natural enemies were used to analyze the community characteristics of the arthropod community. Corn yields were also measured. [Results]  In 2019, 41 pests and 39 natural enemies were found in intercropped fields, compared to 25 pests and 28 natural enemies in maize monoculture fields. In 2020, a total of 40 pests and 30 natural enemies were identified in intercropped fields compared to 32 pests and 25 natural enemies in monoculture fields. Compared to maize monoculture fields, the total species number, diversity index, richness index, evenness index, S_s/S_i, S_n/S_p, N_n/N_p and N_d/N_p of the arthropod community was higher in intercropped fields, whereas the dominance index, dominance concentration index, and S_d/S_p were lower, than in maize monoculture fields in the same year. Rhopalosiphum maidis, Empoasca flavescens and Spodoptera frugiperda were the dominant pests, and ladybugs, hover flies, aphid cocoon bees and spiders, the dominant natural enemies. The temporal niche overlap values between ladybugs and hover flies, ladybugs and R. maidis, and hover flies and R. maidis, were relatively large. In addition, the niche overlap values of hover flies and S. frugiperda were relatively large in 2020. Compared to maize monocultures, maize-soybean intercropping increased the maize yield by 15.12 % in 2019 and by 13.56 % in 2020. [Conclusion]  Maize-soybean intercropping improves the diversity and stability of arthropod communities, increases the diversity of natural enemies, and, to some extent, reduces the occurrence of R. maidis and S. frugiperda, thereby improving maize yield.