This research conducted a series of numerical investigations on the seismic behavior and design of the multi-story steel plate shear wall (SPSW) buildings. This paper firstly proposes a new capacity design method for the bottom column of the SPSW to avoid the plastic hinge forming at the top end of the bottom column. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been verified by using nonlinear pushover analyses with three-dimensional finite-element shell models. In this research, several 6-, 12- and 20-story SPSWs were designed considering the U.S. code-prescribed design spectrum for the site in Los Angeles. The numerical strip models for these designs were constructed using computer software PISA3D. In order to investigate the dynamic responses of the multi-story SPSWs under the 10/50 level earthquakes, nonlinear response history analyses using a suite of the 20 scaled ground motions were conducted on each strip model. Comparing the dynamic responses of the boundary columns and beams with the estimated static maximum demands, which is derived from the force equilibrium in the plastic mechanism of the SPSWs subjected to the first-mode lateral force distribution, it can be found that the estimated static maximum demands overestimated the dynamic column axial forces. Statistical analytical results were employed to develop the equations for estimating the dynamic column axial forces in the multi-story SPSW.