We study the single particle entanglement spectrum in 2D topological insulators which possess n-fold rotation symmetry. By defining a series of special choices of subsystems on which the entanglement is calculated, or real space cuts, we find that the number of protected in-gap states for each type of these real space cuts is a quantum number indexing (if any) non-trivial topology in these insulators. We explicitly show the number of protected in-gap states is determined by a Z n -index, (z1, ..., zn), where zm is the number of occupied states that transform according to m-th one-dimensional representation of the Cn point group. We find that the entanglement spectrum contains in-gap states pinned in an interval of entanglement eigenvalues [1/n, 1 − 1/n]. We determine the number of such in-gap states for an exhaustive variety of cuts, in terms of the Zm quantum numbers. Furthermore, we show that in a homogeneous system, the Z n index can be determined through an evaluation of the eigenvalues of point group symmetry operators at all high-symmetry points in the Brillouin zone. When disordered n-fold rotationally symmetric systems are considered, we find that the number of protected in-gap states is identical to that in the clean limit as long as the disorder preserves the underlying point group symmetry and does not close the bulk insulating gap.The study of novel topological phases of matter has become one of the most active fields in condensed matter physics [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] . Chronologically speaking, the first of these phases to be experimentally realized is the integer quantum Hall (IQH) state, which is a striking departure from the traditional theory of conductivity due to its quantized Hall conductance and chiral edge modes 21 . Shortly after its experimental discovery, Thouless demonstrated that the special properties of the IQH state came down to its non-trivial bandstructure topology 22 . For the IQH state, one can prove that the quantized Hall conductance is equivalent to a momentum space integral of the Berry curvature, which is a non-zero integer (known as the Chern number in topology), multiplied by the conductance quantum e 2 /h. Beyond this, Haldane demonstrated that the IQH state may be further generalized to a system which does not require an external overall magnetic flux, yet still possesses a non-zero Chern number and quantized Hall conductance. This system is generally referred to as a Chern insulator 23 .Further as systems which preserve time-reversal invariance (TRI) pose an interesting problem as their Chern number vanishes in the presence of non-trivial topology. This necessitates the definition of a new quantum number capable of distinguishing between trivial and non-trivial topological states in systems which possess TRI. In 2D 1-3 and 3D 7,24 , one can define a Z 2 -number, which here we call γ 0 , as a quantity which is uniquely determined by the matrix representations of the time-reversal symmetry operator at all time-reversal inv...