We are observing an increase in development activity of the cities with poviat rights nowadays. It is visible especially in the area of obtaining European funds, financial policy, infrastructure or entrepreneurship. Those matters, especially experience of cities with poviat rights as the main beneficiaries became an interesting research area now. The aim of the article is to assess the competitiveness and development level of the cities with poviat rights in voivodships of Eastern Poland. For the purposes of this article, a synthetic measure has been used. Taking into account the availability and comparability of data as well as statistical criteria, the variables describing: financial situation, economy and infrastructure in the system of cities with poviat rights in voivodships of Eastern Poland were adopted. Data from the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office for 2008, 2012 and 2016 were the main source of the article.