Abstract: On the basis of existing studies, the 31 provinces and cities （autonomous regions） of China （excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan） in 2017 were studied from nine dimensions of economic structure optimization, innovation-driven development, efficient resource allocation, perfect market mechanism, stable economic growth, regional coordination and sharing, infrastructure improvement, ecological civilization construction and economic achievements for the benefit of the people, 24 criteria-level measures and 41 specific measurement were set. The level of high-quality economic development was evaluated based on two-stage factor analysis, and the development level of 31 provinces and cities （autonomous regions） was divided into five categories by using the systematic clustering method. Through factor analysis, it was found that the overall level of high-quality economic development of Chinese provinces and cities （autonomous regions） was low, and there was also the problem of unbalanced development. Spatially, they also faced the problem of unbalanced regional development, and geographically, they showed the development pattern of “high in the east, low in the west and high in the coast, low inland”. Through cluster analysis, it was found that the level of high quality economic development of Chinese provinces and cities （autonomous regions） could be divided into five categories from high to low, and the number of provinces and cities （autonomous regions） in each category was 2, 4, 17, 3 and 5, respectively.

Key words: high quality economic development, factor analysis, cluster analysis