Cortland, NY
Cortland merits investigation by yield-focused buyers comfortable with flood due diligence; buyers needing strong migration support or low property-risk exposure should avoid it.
Why this market scores where it does
Written from the figures on this page and then checked against them: every number below had to appear in the source record or recompute from two that did, or the text was rewritten.
Cortland merits investigation by yield-focused buyers comfortable with flood due diligence; buyers needing strong migration support or low property-risk exposure should avoid it. Median value of $208,604 and asking rent of $1,365 imply a reported gross yield of 7.85%, while rents rose 7.75% year over year.
Opportunity comes from positive labor and constrained-building signals: LAUS jobs rose 3.03%, 26 permits were issued, and available inventory was 3.7 months. Affordability is mixed rather than uniformly strong: the price-to-income ratio is 2.96, but rent absorbs 23.25% of median income. Buyers should verify that achievable rents support the reported yield.
Risk sits outside the income story. Tax filings show net migration of -111 households, so employment and rent strength coexist with household outflow. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the climate loss ratio is 0.1593% of building value annually. Price cuts on 21.74% of listings also argue for disciplined bids rather than assuming sellers hold firm.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What do the current price and rent imply for gross income?
Is household movement supporting demand?
How active is the purchase market?
Investor Quick Takeaways
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Cortland as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
The current market in eight signals
Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.
What each component measures
Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 99 | 30% | 29.70 |
| Rent trend | 90 | 25% | 22.50 |
| Affordability | 59 | 15% | 8.85 |
| Supply pressure | 81 | 15% | 12.15 |
| Climate risk | 39 | 15% | 5.85 |
| Published score | 79 | ||
LAUS employment rose 3.03% -> the labor signal is positive, but net household migration does not confirm broader demand growth.
Asking rent rose 7.75% and gross yield is 7.85% -> income metrics support further underwriting, but the $1,198 two-bedroom fair-market rent is below the $1,365 asking rent.
Rent equals 23.25% of median income and price equals 2.96 times income -> renter burden appears moderate, but purchase and rent affordability should be assessed separately.
The market recorded 26 permits, a 0.56-per-thousand permit rate, and 3.7 months of supply -> the building pipeline is limited, while buyers still have some resale inventory.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1593% -> property-level flood exposure and insurance terms need verification.
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
What is being built, and for whom
Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.
Demand, and the competition for it
Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.
What would make this a bad buy
Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.
Three ways the case breaks
- Tax filings show net migration of -111 households, so rent and job strength lack support from positive household inflow.
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1593% of building value.
- The $1,365 median asking rent exceeds the $1,198 two-bedroom fair-market rent, creating rent-achievement risk if underwriting relies on the higher figure.
Move from the metro average to local evidence
County pages carry tax, migration, listing and hazard records. City pages appear only where direct city price, rent and Census evidence pass the publication gate.
No city in this metro has passed the current city evidence gate.
Metros that behave like Cortland
Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.
| Metro | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cortland, NY (Target) | 79 | $209k | $1,365 | 7.8% | ▲ 3.0% |
| Carlsbad, NM | 68 | $254k | $1,600 | 7.6% | ▲ 2.4% |
| Sandusky, OH | 77 | $243k | $1,689 | 8.4% | ▲ 2.1% |
| Watertown, NY | 74 | $236k | $1,467 | 7.4% | ▲ 1.7% |
| Seneca, SC | 46 | $298k | $1,550 | 6.2% | ▲ 2.8% |
Where every figure came from
“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.
| Dataset Source | Method | Release Period | Pulled Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS 5-year — household income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-07-31 |
| OMB/BLS delineation — metro geography | direct | OMB July 2023 delineation | 2026-07-30 |
| Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units | direct | BPS through 2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housing | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-29 |
| Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios | modelled | NRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS) | 2026-07-26 |
| FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciation | direct | annual county HPI 2025 | 2026-07-28 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard | direct | FY2026 FMR | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback | direct | ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-23 | 2026-07-27 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-27 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents | direct | county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — metro home values | direct | Metro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — city home values | direct | zillow_zhvi_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — metro market rents | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZORI — city market rents | direct | zillow_zori_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |