THE COTTAGE GROVE LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Lower St. Croix and Vermillion Valleys setting.
Cottage Grove city has 33.6 square miles of land in Washington County. Its Census reference point is in Lower St. Croix and Vermillion Valleys, within Western Corn Belt Plains.
Glacial till plains and windblown loess hills make up the Western Corn Belt landscape. Near-level and rolling terrain are interspersed with steeper river valleys and hills.
Regional context: Western Corn Belt Plains ↗ · Classification at the Census reference point
Cottage Grove and Washington County
Cottage Grove is associated with Washington County in the Census boundary data. Start with the parcel’s tax bill to match the property to that jurisdiction, then confirm which government handles its land use.
Cottage Grove by land and water
The Census records 3.89 square miles of water within Cottage Grove, or 10.4% of its total area. It is 1.2 percentage points higher than the 9.1% recorded for Washington County. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Cottage Grove city has 15.9 times the land area of nearby Grey Cloud Island township (2.12 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.

