The article is devoted to the social dimension of the Russian region' civilization complex on the materials of small single-industry cities of the North-West Russia. Despite the socio-territorial, industrial, and cultural proximity of the monocities Koryazhma and Sokol, there are significant socio-economic differences in their development, which can be defined as the advancing, crisis and stagnating civilization dynamics of the local territory of the region and a separate region. A comparison and a comparative analysis of the indicators of this monocities within the framework of a civilizational approach fixes their socio-structural and cultural identity, territorial inequality in solving employment problems, the level of housing security and material well-being.