45,945 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.7% since 2020)
499 square miles of land · 92 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
25 active community water systems list Cortland County in the area they serve, reporting 34,873 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| CORTLAND (C) groundwater · local government · NY1101754 | 20,095 served |
| HOMER VILLAGE-NEWTON WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · NY1101757 | 4,368 served |
| CORTLANDVILLE TOWN WATER groundwater · local government · NY1101755 | 4,300 served |
| VIRGIL W.D. #1 - GREEK PEAK WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · NY1103502 | 1,400 served |
| MCGRAW VILLAGE groundwater · local government · NY1101758 | 1,306 served |
| MARATHON VILLAGE groundwater · local government · NY1101759 | 1,107 served |
| CINCINNATUS WATER DISTRICT groundwater · local government · NY1101753 | 650 served |
| MARYBELL HOMES groundwater · private · NY1100641 | 355 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 59 people were held in Cortland County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 51.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
5 school districts have their office in Cortland County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $59.2 million — $51 million to run schools, about $26,061 per student, plus $5.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $18 million local (mostly property tax), $34.1 million state, $6.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $25.2 million.
Spent $51 million — $44.2 million to run schools, about $23,237 per student, plus $4.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $16.5 million local (mostly property tax), $27.1 million state, $3.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $18.9 million.
Spent $20.8 million — $19.1 million to run schools, about $25,313 per student, plus $476,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.2 million local (mostly property tax), $15 million state, $2.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $13.3 million.
Spent $20.8 million — $16.1 million to run schools, about $28,892 per student, plus $3.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4 million local (mostly property tax), $14.3 million state, $1.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $10 million.
Spent $15.7 million — $13.8 million to run schools, about $25,977 per student, plus $540,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.1 million local (mostly property tax), $11.8 million state, $1.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $10.3 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Cortland County about $17.1 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
189 bridges in Cortland County: 66 in good condition, 96 fair, and 27 poor (14.3%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| RTE 930 over RTE 11 NYS Routes 11&41 · built 1966 | 10,063 vehicles a day |
| RTE 930 over TIOUGHNIOGA RIVER · built 1966 | 10,063 vehicles a day |
| RTE 11 over TIOUGHNIOGA RIVER · built 1933 | 9,982 vehicles a day |
| RTE I81 over RUSSELL ROAD TIOUGHNIOG · built 1966 | 9,861 vehicles a day |
| RTE I81 over RUSSELL ROAD TIOUGHNIOG · built 1966 | 8,436 vehicles a day |
| RTE 221 over TIOUGHNIOGA RIVER · built 1932 | 1,978 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $19 million of work in Cortland County in fiscal 2025, about $406 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for New York are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Cortland County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Cortland County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of New York: the state government and every county in New York.
Nearby counties: Tompkins County (22 mi) · Chenango County (25 mi) · Onondaga County (29 mi) · Madison County (30 mi) · Tioga County (31 mi) · Broome County (32 mi).