Cortland County, NY

County Profile

46,246 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Cortland County, NY.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

58out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 37% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity738th of 1,255 counties measured51
SchoolsTop 19% of 973 counties measured75
Growth1190th of 1,226 counties measured16
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties measured100
Climate1151st of 1,254 counties measured54
Physical resilience824th of 1,255 counties measured49
AccessTop 49% of 1,255 counties measured82
Economic stabilityTop 44% of 1,255 counties measured65
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.3% and median household income $70,418, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

Residential permitting has slowed: 31 units authorized over the past twelve months, 18% below the prior year.

Rent takes 17% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.3 times that income.

At a glance

Population
46,246
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$70,418
Top 36% nationally
Density
93/sq mi
498.8 sq mi of land
Median age
37.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Cortland County
New York
Metro area
Cortland, NY
Nearest major airport
SYR
36 mi · Syracuse Hancock Intl
Median home value
$162,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.3% is lower than 46% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 0.8% over the past year, to 20,559 employed residents.

29% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 74% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,912$70,418Top 36%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,053$34,752Bottom 49%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income$50,540Bottom 25%of 1,2062023
Poverty rate12.8%Bottom 45%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.3 minBottom 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher29.1%Top 26%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment20,559Bottom 25%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.1%Bottom 31%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 46%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force21,489Bottom 25%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation62.4%Top 30%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 32%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate4.3%Top 46%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.32.9
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.3% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202470k62k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $70,418 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

43% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 54% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 10.1 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
17
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
10.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
42.8%
Top 23% in New York
Reading proficiency
53.5%
Top 40% in New York
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
CORTLAND HIGH SCHOOLCORTLAND CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT58210.4
HOMER SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLHOMER CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT55810.9
HOMER INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLHOMER CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT44311.745%50%
HOMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLHOMER CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT43011.9
FRANKLYN S BARRY PRIMARY SCHOOLCORTLAND CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT41711.3
HOMER JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLHOMER CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT3978.642%52%
WILLIAM APPLEBY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLMARATHON CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT37810.852%51%
MARATHON HIGH SCHOOLMARATHON CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT2958.925%55%
FE SMITH INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLCORTLAND CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT29111.644%48%
CORTLAND JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLCORTLAND CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT2749.812%42%
RANDALL MIDDLE SCHOOLCORTLAND CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT2729.147%42%
MCGRAW ELEMENTARY SCHOOLMCGRAW CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT26411.545%56%

48.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against New York’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $984 takes 17% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.3 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
16.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$984
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$162,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.30Bottom 21%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate66.3%Bottom 18%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±6420,841Top 34%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$50$984Top 33%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,172$162,100Bottom 39%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income16.8%Bottom 47%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.8%Bottom 24%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
16/ 100
Ranks 1190 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 2% since 2020, reaching 45,945 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 19% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
31
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.7
Bottom 9% nationally
Year over year
−18%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
19.4%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202447k46k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420254833
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−23%).

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 79°F and January a low of 13°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.7 inches.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ITHACA 13 E, 13.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation41.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low13°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high79°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months41991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing46°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

49 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and heat wave.

Inland floodingElevated
HurricaneModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, ice storm, winter weather, earthquake, tornado, lightning, cold wave, hail, avalanche, strong wind, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Cortland County records 2.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 7.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.1 per 100,000 residents in Cortland County.

Homicide
2.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
7.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
12.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Cortland County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Cortland County rather than Cortland County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 36 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Syracuse Hancock IntlSYR36 mi9,013 ft
Elmira/Corning RgnlELM51 mi8,001 ft
Griffiss IntlRME56 mi11,820 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Cortland County, NY