This paper employs a canonical correlation analysis method to quantify the linkage between urban rail transit station demand and the surrounding land-use patterns. It is used to identify key land use variables by evaluating their degrees of contribution to the rail transit station demand. A full month of IC card data and detailed regulatory land use plan from Chongqing, China are collected for model development and validation. The proposed model contributes to offering the capability of targeting key land use patterns and associating them with rail transit station boarding and alighting demand simultaneously. The proposed model can reveal underlying rules between rail transit station demand and land use variables and can be used to evaluate the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) plans to improve land use and transit operational efficiency.