Delaware County ranks among the Top 12 percent of the least-distressed counties in the United States, according to data from the newly formed Economic Innovation Group (EIG), a nonprofit research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

This new data was the subject of a recent New York Times article that discussed the increasing gap between the richest and poorest communities in America.

The numbers reveal how well off Delaware County is compared with the rest of the nation, as it ranks 379th out of 3,128 counties in terms of its prosperity.

To come up with the rankings in EIG’s Distressed Communities Index, analysts focused on seven factors, which present a complete and multidimensional picture of economic distress.

They are 1.) the prevalence of adults with a high school degree; 2.) home vacancy rates; 3.) adults in the work force; 4.) the percentage of people living below the poverty line; 5.) median income as a percentage of the state average; 6.) change in employment; and 7.) change in the number of businesses.

With a population of 560,780, Delaware County’s median income is 121 percent of the state’s average. In simpler terms, residents of Delaware County make roughly one-fifth more than those living in the rest of the Keystone State.

Delaware County also experienced a 4.5 percent increase in employment since the end of the last recession.

The article provides one of the most detailed looks at the nation’s growing inequality since the end of the Great Recession. The numbers suggest that the chasm that existed between the richest and poorest American communities is only widening, as distressed areas are faring worse as the recovery gains traction across much of the country.

“It’s almost like you are looking at two different countries,” said Steve Glickman, executive director of EIG.

Officially, the economy has grown every year since 2010, at an average annual rate of about two percent. EIG’s study, though, is a more-nuanced look at the big picture, as it exhaustively breaks down the many factors that contribute to each county’s profile.