The article analyzes the socio-economic processes occurring in various regions of our country, their heterogeneity and ambiguity.These phenomena are becoming the subject of scientific debate, in which the emphasis is placed on the fact that the situation in the regions is constantly assessed by both government and independent structures and, it would seem, in such conditions society can count on an objective assessment of the activities of governors and understand their effectiveness as managers and trust official information and ratings, which are published with enviable consistency, and not their feelings and “conversations in the kitchen.” The material notes the difference between society’s assessment and official statistics, real life and reports from regional leadership. One gets the impression that we are not talking about the same subjects and not about the same indicators characterizing the degree of change in the situation in the economy and social life of the territory, on the basis of which an assessment of the effectiveness of management and conclusions should be made on the advisability of further extending the term of management or making a decision on major adjustments to the territory development strategy. The author questions the correctness of the current elements of assessing the ongoing socio-economic processes in the territories, since they do not fully reflect the real picture.Officially adopted methods can and should be refined taking into account empirical experience and the conclusions of scientists, and the results obtained should give an objective assessment with an appropriate reaction from higher structures.