Cortland, Illinois.
Typical home $295,998 (+5.6% in a year). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$940 (+153%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $15,676 +6%
- $280,322$295,998 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $96,080 +48%
- $199,919$295,998 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Cortland$1,554
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 9 years.
Typical home values in Cortland, IL rose 5.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Cortland, DeKalb County, Illinois
Cortland is a town of 4,398 people in DeKalb County. Half its households earn more than $73,971 a year and half less, against $70,724 across DeKalb County; 7% of its people live below the poverty line. 78% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 22% are rented. Unemployment in DeKalb County was 3.7% in August 2026, and the county had 0.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Cortland is a small town in DeKalb County with a young population, where most people are younger than in much of the country. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and household incomes run a little above the county's, with fewer residents living in poverty than you might expect. Winters are cold and snowy, and summers are warm, with a fair amount of rain through the year.
Work. Residents work mainly in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in transport, warehouses and utilities, and in professional and business services. Some of the largest workplaces in Cortland itself are Dun-Rite Tool & Machine Co, a metalworking and manufacturing firm, Custom Stone Works, which makes precast concrete products, and the Cortland Community Fire Protection District. Commutes are fairly long, and some residents work from home.
Things to do. A short drive away in DeKalb, the Egyptian Theatre is a historic theatre, and Ellwood House is a museum. Huskie Stadium, also a short drive off, is a stadium for sports. For time outdoors, Shabbona Lake State Park is a protected area a longer drive away.
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- 1,558households
- 27%of adults have a degree
- 7%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. DeKalb County had 36,506 jobs in 2025, 0.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 28° and lows near 13°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 63°. About 33 inches of snow and 37 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the De Kalb weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Cortland
- Baeza Rapid Delivery ServiceCourier services80
- Cortland Community Fire Protection DistrictAmbulance and fire service combined35
- Dun-Rite Tool & Machine CoMilling machines, metalworking, manufacturing32
- Custom Stone WorksPrecast concrete products manufacturing22
- RP LumberTruss manufacturing20
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 5 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 189 people in all. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Strong windrelatively high in parts of CortlandRelatively moderate
- Tornadoesrelatively high in parts of CortlandRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Cortland’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on DeKalb County and the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI metro.
Cortland home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Cortland$295,998
- Illinois$295,943
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Cortland10
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Cortland5
Zip codes with a Cortland address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Cortland — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.