Cortland vs DeKalb

A side-by-side comparison of Cortland and DeKalb: population, income, housing, and more.

Cortland and DeKalb are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

DeKalb has the higher population (40,464 vs 4,556 in Cortland). Cortland has the higher median household income ($82,750 vs $46,564 in DeKalb). Cortland has the higher median home value ($203,700 vs $202,900 in DeKalb).

Population, income & housing

	Cortland	DeKalb
Population	4,556	40,464
Median age	31.9 yrs	25.4 yrs
Median household income	$82,750	$46,564
Median home value	$203,700	$202,900
Median gross rent	$1,420	$1,030
Housing units	1,631	17,003
Homeownership rate	77.0%	42.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.1%	35.7%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	10.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cortland	DeKalb
Population	4,124 → 4,556 (+10.5%)	42,908 → 40,464 (-5.7%)
Median household income	$84,900 → $82,750 (-2.5%)	$45,020 → $46,564 (+3.4%)
Median home value	$156,100 → $203,700 (+30.5%)	$157,900 → $202,900 (+28.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,218 → $1,420 (+16.6%)	$903 → $1,030 (+14.1%)

Cortland

Population

4,1244,556

Median household income

$84,900$82,750

Median home value

$156,100$203,700

Median gross rent

$1,218$1,420

DeKalb

Population

42,90840,464

Median household income

$45,020$46,564

Median home value

$157,900$202,900

Median gross rent

$903$1,030

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cortland	DeKalb
Under 5	6.3%	5.0%
5 to 17	18.3%	14.9%
18 to 24	11.2%	29.6%
25 to 34	19.4%	13.3%
35 to 44	16.1%	10.5%
45 to 54	9.4%	8.2%
55 to 64	11.2%	7.7%
65 to 74	3.5%	5.8%
75 and over	4.6%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cortland	DeKalb
White (non-Hispanic)	71.4%	57.5%
Black or African American	9.1%	15.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	3.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.1%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	17.4%	18.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cortland	DeKalb
No high school diploma	5.9%	10.4%
High school graduate	30.3%	23.9%
Some college or associate's	32.7%	30.1%
Bachelor's degree	17.6%	21.4%
Graduate or professional degree	13.5%	14.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cortland	DeKalb
Drove alone	83.3%	74.4%
Carpooled	7.5%	12.3%
Public transit	2.6%	0.8%
Walked	0.5%	6.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	6.0%	4.7%
Other means	0.0%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cortland	DeKalb
1-unit, detached	67.4%	40.6%
1-unit, attached	12.3%	8.6%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	15.1%	28.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	11.8%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	2.2%

Poverty & households

	Cortland	DeKalb
Poverty rate	8.0%	25.7%
Average household size	2.89	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	27	23
Median year structure built	1996	1977