Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town was settled in 1878 and has 15,228 residents today.
Great Falls’s overall grade of A puts it better than 88% of U.S. towns, 66th of 249 in Virginia. Its best grade is for health (A+). Incomes are a strength too: the median household earns $250K. What holds it back is cost of living (D): the typical home is worth about $1.7 million, 13.2 years of the Washington metro’s $127K median household income. This Virginia town has 9 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Potomac Canal Historic District and Cornwell Farm. 85% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more here, against 44% in Virginia’s towns and 29% across U.S. towns. Of the 137 Virginia towns we compare, none has a higher typical home value than Great Falls. Great Falls’ concentration of trails is 1.8 miles per square mile, above both the Virginia town median (0.7) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4).
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow · National Register of Historic Places · Zillow, September 2026 · OpenStreetMap.
Where Great Falls beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Great Falls | VA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 3% | 11.1% |
Where Great Falls’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Great Falls is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Potomac Canal Historic District is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 6,945 in 1990, 15,953 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1861 and 5 maps from 1951 on.
9 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Great Falls. Close and well known come first.
Big draw16 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw16 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw16 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw16 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw17 mi MuseumSmithsonian Institution30.0M visitors a year
Big draw16 mi National MemorialLincoln Memorial7.7M visitors a yearWhite House: This image or media was taken or created by Matt H. Wade. To see his entire port, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Washington Monument: Oren Rozen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Arlington National Cemetery: Protoant, Public domain · United States Triumphal Arch: Hstoops, CC0 · Smithsonian Institution: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer, Public domain · Lincoln Memorial: Aerial_view_of_Lincoln_Memorial_-_east_side.jpg: Carol M. Highsmith derivative w, Public domain
Great Falls is unincorporated, so Fairfax County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Great Falls.
Great Falls has less tooth loss than most of Virginia and has household incomes well above the Virginia norm, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Virginia.
At 13.2 years of the Washington metro’s $127K median household income, the typical home (about $1.68M) costs more against local pay than in any other Virginia town; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living.
In Great Falls, 95% of households live in a home they own. Homes in the town are typically worth about $1,676,000, up 3.2% in a year, 4 times the Virginia typical home. A home in Great Falls typically sold within 49 days of listing.
| Great Falls | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $3,501 a month | $1,760 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 95% | 68% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Public schools: the Fairfax County Public Schools. Two of the 4 schools are below, and why each made the list. The 2 public schools in Great Falls teach 1,084 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forestville ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 571 | A |
| Great Falls ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 513 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
Count the trails in 13 parks and preserves and they come to 47 miles. Great Falls Park, at 688 acres with 12.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Great Falls Park | 12.3 mi | 688 |
| 2. Riverbend Park | 9.7 mi | 400 |
| 3. Difficult Run Stream Valley Park | 1.7 mi | 75 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its widest gap with Virginia is tooth loss: 3% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 11.1% statewide. Against the 436 U.S. towns with household incomes like Great Falls’s, it is healthier than 74%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
29% of adults feel lonely in Great Falls. No town among the 253 in Virginia we compare has a lower share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Great Falls. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Great Falls is ahead of Virginia on 25 and behind on 1. Only 2 of the 253 Virginia towns we compare have a lower share of adults who get no exercise outside work than Great Falls.
| Great Falls | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 34% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 16% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 5.4% | 12% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 8.9% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Great Falls | VA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 3% | 11.1% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 4.3% | 13.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.7% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
44.2% of workers work from home, against 18.3% across Virginia.
For most workers, Great Falls is a place to come home to: only 6% work in town. Jobs based in Great Falls grew to 2,938 in 2023, 366 more than in 2013. Great Falls’ average trip to work is 34 minutes. Half commute less than 11 miles.
| Great Falls | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 44% | 17% | 11% |
| Median household income | $250,000 | $101,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 34 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 2.2% | 7.7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in 78% of U.S. communities. 77% of Great Falls’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by hurricanes at 9%. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Great Falls once, in 2003.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 26° and about 21 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
17 within 15 miles of the center of Great Falls
About 5 of every 100 Great Falls residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Virginia.
9 places in Great Falls on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Great Falls.
Census-designated place in Virginia, United States
Great Falls is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population at the 2020 census was 15,953. It is named for the nearby Great Falls of the Potomac River.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Great Falls.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its A; Dranesville (A) is closest.
| Town | VA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Falls | #66 | A | D | — | B+ | A+ |
| McLean | #47 | A | D | — | B+ | A+ |
| Great Falls Crossing | — | — | C | — | B+ | A+ |
| Wolf Trap | #52 | A | D | — | B+ | A+ |
| Dranesville | #54 | A | D | — | B+ | A+ |
Great Falls Crossing has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Great Falls, McLean, Great Falls Crossing, Wolf Trap and Dranesville report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Great Falls with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Great Falls grades A overall, better than 88% of U.S. towns and #66 of 249 in Virginia. It grades A+ for health and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $1,676,000, 307% above the Virginia typical home and up 3.2% in a year. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
7 notable people were born here, including Paula Cale and Kate Cordsen.
