A new analysis of the Distressed Communities Index by the Economic Innovation Group found a “great reshuffling” of communities as the recovery from the Great Recession continues. Greater Des Moines apparently is one of the winners. The report notes that the Des Moines-West Des Moines metro area:

• Ranks fifth for the percentage of the population that lives in a prosperous community, at 57.9 percent.
• Comes in at No. 23 for educational attainment with 35.9 percent of the population having a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Overall, the report found these trends:

• Prosperous communities usually are densely populated areas with highly educated workers in knowledge-based fields.  
• Nearly half (47 percent) of residents of prosperous ZIP codes had at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 30 percent nationally and 15 percent in distressed ZIP codes.
• Prosperous ZIP codes also had 44 percent of new foreign-born Americans, compared with distressed ZIP codes’ 5 percent.
• ZIP codes that rose in the rankings were generally home to both larger numbers of advanced degree holders and foreign-born residents than those that fell.