Objective: To obtain the Young’s modulus of benign and malignant parotid gland lesions and benign subtypes by shear wave elastography (SWE), and analyze its diagnostic value. Methods: From June 2019 to January 2020, 74 patients (76 nodules) with parotid space-occupying lesions were selected to have SWE examination before surgery or puncture biopsy so as to obtain the relevant Young’s modulus values. The Young’s modulus values were compared with the results of histological examination, and statistical analysis was performed together. Results: In the 76 nodules, 69 cases were benign lesions and 7 cases were malignant lesions. Among the benign lesions, pleomorphic adenoma (PA) accounted for 37.6% (26 cases), monomorphic adenoma (MA) accounted for 30.0% (23 cases), and lymph nodes accounted for 21.7% (15 cases). The maximum and average Young’s modulus of all parotid tumors were higher than those in the parotid lymph nodes, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). There were also statistic significance in PA and MA comparing with the maximum and average Young’s modulus values (P<0.05). Comparing the parotid malignant lesions with benign lesions, the maximum and average values of the Young’s modulus were statistically significant. However, there was no statistic significance difference in the maximum and average Young’s modulus between malignant and the subgroups of benign lesions, except for the lymph node group (P>0.05). Conclusion: Although SWE technology has not achieved the expected results in identifying parotid benign and malignant tumors, it is significant for benign subgroups (PA, MA, lymph nodes and other parotid tumors).