The aim of the article is to analyse the spread and diffusion of socio-economic development in Poland in 2004-2016, while considering spatial aspects. Using the linear ordering method in the non-pattern version, a synthetic development measure for all municipalities in Poland was built based on a set of 77 features illustrating various socio-economic aspects, reduced to 25 features. For the measure constructed in this way, the convergence of the beta and sigma type has been examined, divided into 3 groups of municipalities (rural, urban and urban-rural), as well as in regional division. Using the methods of spatial econometrics, the occurrence of spatial effects was examined, in particular the attention was paid to the relationship between the processes of spreading development and spatial forms of diffusion of development. The analysis also allowed to determine the strength of local impacts of spatial connections between individual municipalities.