Under the background of new urbanization, it is of great significance to explore the relationship between farmland transfer and the livelihood capital of rural households to achieve sustainable livelihood of farmers. Based on the micro-survey data of the CFPS and the framework of sustainable livelihood analysis, this paper constructed an index system to measure the livelihood capital of rural households from the perspective of farmland transfer and analyzed the livelihood capital of rural households with and without farmland transfer by the statistical analysis and the seemingly unrelated regression model. Furtherly, this paper also discussed the influencing factors of rural households’ livelihood capital. Results show that the level of livelihood capital of these two types of rural households is generally low, and the total value of the subsistence capital of those households with farmland transfer is slightly smaller than that of those households without farmland transfer. Among them, the levels of financial capital, physical capital and human capital of households with farmland transfer are significantly higher than those of the households without farmland transfer. While the levels of natural capital, social capital and psychological capital of those households with farmland transfer are lower than those of the households without farmland transfer, especially natural capital is significantly lower. Farmland transfer has a significant negative impact on households’ natural capital, social capital and psychological capital, and has a significant positive impact on financial capital. In addition, the livelihood capital of rural households is also affected by different factors, including family factors and community factors. Therefore, to strengthen the conversion of farmland to household’s livelihood capital and to promote the livelihood transformation, this paper suggests to increase more non-agricultural employment opportunities and to cultivate new agricultural management entities.