The subject studied in the article is the influence of the changing socio-economic situation on interethnic relations in the Northern Caucasus, in particular through claiming national exclusiveness and ethnically «pure» territory. The task of the work was to elucidate the extent of trust in the relations between ethnic groups, as influenced by particularities of the geographical location. The research contained multi-dimensional typology of cities (or towns) and districts of five regions of the Northern Caucasus and a poll of 2000 thousand respondents, realized on the basis of the said typology. Statistical and sociological information corresponding to characteristic types of urban and rural settlements is compared.