The purpose of this study was to investigate PLAGL2 expression associated with pathological features and prognosis and predicted lymph node metastases in the bladder urothelial carcinoma (BUC) tissue. The pathologic specimens and clinical data of 203 patients with bladder urothelial carcinoma after radical resection were collected. The expression of PLAGL2 was detected by immunohistochemically staining. The influence on lymph node metastasis and the prognoses of BUC patients were analyzed. The expression of PLAGL2 in BUC and positive lymph nodes was significantly higher than the normal bladder tissues (89.06% and 76.56% vs 21.88%, P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that PLAGL2 expression was an independent risk factor for BUC lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). COX proportional hazards regression model showed that the time to recurrence and overall survival of patients with overexpression of PLAGL2 were significantly lower than those with low expression (P < 0.05). PLAGL2 is highly expressed in the BUC tissue and metastatic lymph node relative to the normal bladder tissue. This expression correlates to tumor size and number, and tumor grade and stage. Overexpression of PLAGL2 can be an independent predictor for lymph node metastasis and patient survival.