Abstract: To reveal the characteristics of urban-based evapotranspiration, a SEBS-Urban model was applied to estimate the monthly evapotranspiration(ET) that occurred in the plain area of Tianjin over 2015—2017 considering anthropogenic heat release. A two-step verification method was used. First, a comparative analysis was performed with the MODIS MOD16 products for rural areas. Second, the urban water dissipation (UWD) framework was used to assess the model's performance in built-up areas. The feasibility of the Budyko formula was explored based on the SEBS-Urban results. Three key results were obtained: ① The SEBS-Urban model is reliable, and the results of the built-up area ET analysis are consistent from the perspectives of an urban surface energy balance and a dualistic water cycle. ② The ET increment ranges up to 85%~115% for the built-up area but only 7.2%~8.7% for the whole study area after including considerations for anthropogenic heat. ③ The Budyko formula obtained good results for estimating evapotranspiration in the study area, suggesting that it can also be applied to urban areas. The results of this study can provide a necessary reference for studies on evapotranspiration in urbanized areas.