Cortland is a medium-sized city located in the state of New York. With a population of 17,459 people and seven associated neighborhoods, Cortland is the 107th largest community in New York. Cortland has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Cortland is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Cortland is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Cortland who work in food service (13.31%), office and administrative support (10.66%), and sales jobs (10.26%). Cortland is a small town with a large college student population. Because of this, there is a real youthful, hip vibe to the place, and much of the life in the town is centered on the college. This has helped Cortland to buck the trend of other small towns that have suffered declining populations over the past 20 to 30 years. Spending by students, and faculty and staff jobs, are a big part of the local economy. Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Cortland spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 17.66 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.The percentage of people in Cortland who are college-educated is somewhat higher than the average US community of 21.84%: 26.09% of adults in Cortland have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Cortland in 2022 was $27,328, which is low income relative to New York, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $109,312 for a family of four. However, Cortland contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Cortland is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Cortland home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Cortland residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Cortland include Irish, English, German, Italian, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Cortland is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.
