Cortland TownshipIL
A town of 11,644, settled in 1865.
Is Cortland Township a good place to live?
Cortland Township grades B− overall, 460th of 767 graded towns in Illinois, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 76% of the country and natural-hazard risk is low. On the other side, the typical home is worth about $264K, 2.9 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. 12% of residents are 65 or older in Cortland Township, below both the Illinois town median (19%) and the median of U.S. towns (18%).
What makes Cortland Township stand out
Where Cortland Township beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Cortland Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.7% | 9.9% |
95% of working residents leave Cortland Township for work
Where Cortland Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Cortland Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Cortland Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Cortland Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cortland Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Cortland Township.
Cortland Township carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Illinois (mostly inland flooding), but it has lost a quarter or more of its jobs in ten years.
Top of a very low hazard risk in Cortland Township: inland flooding
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 95% of Illinois towns, with expected losses of about $242 per resident a year; that rating is what its A− for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1985, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Cortland Township. The town’s FEMA risk score is 15 of 100. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 38% come from inland flooding and 33% from cold waves. Households locally have drawn federal disaster aid once, in 2006.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Cortland Township’s schools rank behind 55% of Illinois districts
Public schools: DeKalb CUSD 428. One of its 2 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. The 2 public schools in Cortland Township teach 979 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cortland Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 523 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
For health, Cortland Township earns an A−
Among adults in Cortland Township, 31% have high blood pressure. A fifth of Cortland Township adults binge drink.
| Cortland Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 35% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 23% | 25% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | Cortland Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.7% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.8% | 15.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
With only 0.6 jobs per working resident, most people in Cortland Township work out of town
Jobs based here fell from 3,996 in 2013 to 2,913.
The share of residents in Cortland Township who live below the poverty line: 6%. Commuting out is the norm here: 5% of working residents work locally. Jobs based in the town fell to 2,913 in 2023, 1,083 fewer than in 2013. The town’s middle household income comes in at $99,000.
| Cortland Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $99,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 6% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 5% | 8.4% | 8% |
| Work from home | 9.8% | 11% | 11% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Cortland Township has four seasons and pleasant summers
July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 14° and about 33 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Cortland Township keeps 1.3% of its land conserved
5.0 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. In Cortland Township, the trail density is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Cortland Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.3% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cortland Park | 0.2 mi | 13 |
| 2. Suppeland Park | — | 7 |
| 3. Kiwanis Park | 0.2 mi | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Younger than Illinois overall
41% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Cortland Township. This Illinois town has grown 4% since 2020, to 11,644 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Its median age is 35.1 years.
| Cortland Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 35.1 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 41% | 29% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 26% | 22% | 22% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.7 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Cortland Township | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.8% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.9% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.6% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.5% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.1% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.3% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.9% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 6.6% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.3% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.5% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.7% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.4% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.5% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.7% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 19.2% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Illinois Railway Museum and 26 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cortland Township. Close and well known come first.
21 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
32 mi MuseumMorton Arboretum
5 mi TheatreEgyptian Theatre, DeKalb
5 mi MuseumEllwood House
32 mi Stadium & arenaBMO Center
23 mi Theme parkSanta's Village Amusement & Water ParkPhoto credits
Illinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · Morton Arboretum: Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Egyptian Theatre, DeKalb: Andy McMurray, CC BY 2.5 · Ellwood House: Paul R. Burley, CC0 · BMO Center: SimLibrarian, CC0 · Santa's Village Amusement & Water Park: Martin Lewison from The Hague, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Everything we know about Cortland Township
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Cortland Township
About 8 of every 100 Cortland Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
About Cortland Township
Town in Illinois, United States
Cortland is an incorporated town in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,398 at the 2020 Census. It was previously 4,270 at the 2010 census, up from 2,066 in 2000. Because of its status as an incorporated town, Cortland has adopted the slogan, "The Third Largest Town in Illinois". Only the towns of Cicero and Normal are larger, in terms of population. Most municipalities in Illinois are defined as "cities" or "villages."
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Established
- 1865
- Area
- 3.7 sq mi
- Elevation
- 869 ft
- ZIP code
- 60112
- Area code
- 815
Cortland Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Cortland Township.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cortland Township | #460 | B− | C− | — | B− | A− |
| DeKalb Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Virgil Township | — | — | C | — | A− | A− |
| Pierce Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Sycamore Township | #227 | A− | C | — | B+ | A− |
Virgil Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Cortland Township, Virgil Township and Sycamore Township report no FBI crime data of their own. DeKalb Township and Pierce Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Cortland Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Cortland Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Cortland Township, IL a good place to live?
Cortland Township grades B− overall, better than 53% of U.S. towns and #460 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A− for health and B− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Cortland Township, IL expensive?
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.