This paper describes the preparatory stage of forming a database for the study of factors affecting the development of municipalities in Russia. The sources of information were identified and the combination of information from various databases was used in order to significantly expand the system of indicators for subsequent research. The created system of indicators is comparable with the systems of indicators used in foreign studies and will allow to identify similarities and differences in the behavior of municipalities of Russia and foreign countries. The generated database is panel data, which is enough for applying modern econometric methods for analyzing panel data, in particular, using regression models with fixed or random effects
