The reduced density matrix of an interacting system can be used as the basis for a truncation scheme, or in an unbiased method to discover the strongest kind of correlation in the ground state. In this paper, we investigate the structure of the many-body fermion density matrix of a small cluster in a square lattice. The cluster density matrix is evaluated numerically over a set of finite systems, subject to non-square periodic boundary conditions given by the lattice vectors R 1 ≡ (R 1x , R 1y ) and R 2 ≡ (R 2x , R 2y ). We then approximate the infinite-system cluster density-matrix spectrum, by averaging the finite-system cluster density matrix (i) over degeneracies in the ground state, and orientations of the system relative to the cluster, to ensure it has the proper point-group symmetry; and (ii) over various twist boundary conditions to reduce finite size effects. We then compare the eigenvalue structure of the averaged cluster density matrix for noninteracting and strongly-interacting spinless fermions, as a function of the filling fractionn, and discuss whether it can be approximated as being built up from a truncated set of single-particle operators.