Abstract: In wireless sensor networks (WSN), multi-hop communications techniques in routing protocols can reduce the communication distance, enhance the stability of network communication, and improve the efficiency of network utilization. However, the cluster heads close to the sink node are required to transmit large amount of data, which easily results in energy failure and yields an "energy hole" phenomenon. By adopting the hierarchical clustering strategy, this paper proposes an energy-balanced multi-hop uneven clustering routing algorithm (MUCRA). In the present approach, the cluster heads broadcast hierarchical signals with a certain radius for dividing network into uneven layers such that both normal sensor nodes and cluster heads choose the appropriate network path via hierarchical information. Simulation experiments show that, compared with LEACH and EEUC, the proposed algorithm can effectively balance the network.