Cortland, NY carries a PlainCrime C safety grade with violent crime 36% below the U.S. average
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for 2024, Cortland, NY shows violent crime at 226.8 per 100,000 residents and property crime at 2,954 per 100,000. Violent crime runs 36% below the U.S. average. PlainCrime assigns grade C from those rates. Figures are voluntary agency submissions joined to population denominators; incomplete coverage can move the number.
C safety grade
226.8/100K violent
2954/100K property
-36% vs U.S.
The verdict
Cortland earns a C safety grade: violent crime runs 36% below the U.S. average, placing it higher-crime than most U.S. cities.
C
PlainCrime safety grade
-36%
violent crime vs. U.S. average
40th
percentile of 7,769 U.S. cities
2,954
property crimes per 100K
What the 2024 FBI UCR record shows for Cortland, NY
Comparable rate records
Cortland's closest reported-rate comparisons are in the New York cohort
The nearest comparable 2024 records to Cortland's 226.8 violent-crime rate per 100,000 are Perry Village (224.2), Blasdell Village (236.9), Rome (237.5), Elmira Heights Village (213.2). These are same-year agency submissions that pass the same completeness screen, not a claim that the cities have identical conditions. They make the cohort position above checkable against named records instead of a generic state average.
Position in the state cohort
Cortland reported a higher violent-crime rate than most comparable New York cities
At 226.8 reported violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, Cortland ranks 50 of 326 — above 276 of the 325 other New York cities whose 2024 submission passes this site’s completeness test. That is +275.3% against the cohort median of 60.4. Cities that did not report, or that reported implausibly low totals, are excluded from this cohort rather than counted as low-crime.
2020–2024 direction
The reported violent-crime rate ended the window lower
Across 5 comparable reporting years, the rate moved from 263.2 per 100,000 in 2020 to 226.8 in 2024 (-13.8%). The highest observed value was 371.8 in 2023 and the lowest 201.3 in 2021. Years whose submission failed the completeness test are left out of this comparison rather than plotted as change.
Property counts dominate Cortland's FBI UCR Table 8 municipal row. Per-100,000 rates use the reporting-year population on that row; cities that fail the completeness test stay out of rate rankings. A citywide figure rarely describes any single neighbourhood inside the municipal boundary.
Mid-size municipal totals above are reported offenses, not safety advice for any single block. Reporting completeness still varies by year and agency.
Violent rate moved most (2023→2024)
Violent Crime Rate
-39%
371.8 → 226.8/100K
Property Crime Rate
-1.8%
3009 → 2954/100K
Property offenses lead Cortland's 2024 record
Offense
Count
Rate /100K
vs NY
vs US avg
Property Crime
508
2954
1661.2
1711
Larceny-Theft
444
2581.8
-
-
Burglary
56
325.6
-
-
Motor Vehicle Theft
8
46.5
-
-
Arson
3
17.4
-
-
Violent Crime
39
226.8
380
352
Aggravated Assault
30
174.4
-
-
Rape
7
40.7
-
-
Robbery
2
11.6
-
-
Murder
0
0
-
-
Cortland Crime Trend (2020-2024)
Cortland property crime rate trend
Lead series · rose across 5 comparable years · FBI UCR
Property crime rate (2024)
2,954/100K↓1.8%vs 2023
Cortland violent crime rate trend
Secondary series · fell · 2020-2024 · FBI UCR
Violent crime rate (2024)
226.8/100K↓39%vs 2023
Year
Coverage
Population
Violent Rate
Property Rate
Total Crimes
2020
Comparable
18,615
263.2
2761.2
563
2021
Comparable
18,384
201.3
2300.9
460
2022
Comparable
17,061
293.1
3774.7
694
2023
Comparable
17,215
371.8
3009
582
2024
Comparable
17,197
226.8
2954
547
How Cortland sits among NY peers
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program · split lines are the U.S. national averages
Reporting Agency
Cortland Police Department NIBRS-participating
Cortland's crime figures on this page originate from Cortland Police Department's submission to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
This agency reports via NIBRS, the incident-based system that captures more detail per offense (multiple crimes per incident, victim/offender data) than the older summary counts.
Similar-Size Cities in New York
Crime rates read differently at different scales, so these are the New York cities closest to Cortland in population. Their populations run from 15,926 to 18,240, against 17,197 here. Or use our
side-by-side compare tool
to benchmark two cities directly.
These New York cities report the closest violent-crime rates to Cortland's 226.8/100K (same FBI UCR vintage rules; size peers above are excluded so the two lists stay distinct).
Cortland has a violent crime rate of 226.8 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2954 per 100,000, based on 2024 FBI UCR data.
Is Cortland, NY safe? ▼
Cortland receives a safety grade of C (Average), with a safety score of 52/100. The violent crime rate is 36% below the national average and 40% below the New York average.
What is the population of Cortland, NY? ▼
The reporting population for Cortland is 17,197 as of 2024.
How many crimes were reported in Cortland? ▼
In 2024, Cortland reported 39 violent crimes and 508 property crimes, for a total of 547 reported offenses.
How do Cortland's reported offenses compare with its population? ▼
In 2024, Cortland recorded about one reported offense per 31 residents and one reported violent offense per 441 residents. These ratios count reported offenses, not distinct victims, and are not a person's probability of victimization.
Is crime increasing or decreasing in Cortland? ▼
From 2023 to 2024, Cortland's violent crime rate decreased by 39%, and the property crime rate decreased by 1.8%.
What is the most common crime in Cortland? ▼
The most common crime type in Cortland is larceny-theft, accounting for 81.2% of all reported crimes (444 incidents in 2024).
Mid-size read: Cortland figures are FBI UCR CIUS Table 8 (vintage 2024), population-adjusted per 100,000.
Denominators are the reporting-year population on the municipal row. Incomplete years are dropped from rankings. Confirm at FBI Crime Data Explorer and Census.gov QuickFacts.
Disclaimer (mid-size municipal): figures are informational, not advice. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is the source. Consult a professional before decisions.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program CIUS Table 8 municipal crime rates · 2024 Cortland, NY rates use the reporting-year population on the municipal row.