In the article it is studied the influence of higher education on the development of regional socio-economic systems. Economic and statistical analysis revealed the impact of measures of higher education development on the GRP of the region. Highly significant factors were: salaries of faculty staff of the universities and internal research and development costs. These indicators indirectly reflect the degree of intellectual development in the region and show the impact of intellectual capital development on socio-economic development. University professors develop students' knowledge, which allows them to institutionalize higher education and spread it in the region. The quality of a university professor's intelligence directly affects the formation of intellectual capital in the region. In addition, it was significant the number of students studied in bachelor's, specialty, and master's programs. Moreover, the higher the number of students per capita, the lower the GRP per capita, which is explained by their low incomes. In the article it was considered the differentiation of Federal districts and regions of the Russian Federation in terms of the development of the higher education system. Methods of dividing indicators and grouping were applied, which made it possible to make cartograms and visualize the differentiation of regions by the number of higher education institutions and by the number of graduates.