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.
History
Colonial farm settlements began to form in the area as early as the late 1700s.
Early on, the village was known as Forestville (unofficially, since there was already a Forestville with a Post Office), but was renamed Great Falls in 1955.
Geography
Great Falls is located on Virginia State Route 7 in Northern Virginia, Great Falls is west-northwest of downtown Washington, D.C., and north of Fairfax, the county seat.
Great Falls lies in the Piedmont upland on the right bank of the Potomac River. The Potomac River forms the northern and eastern borders of the CDP, and several of its tributaries flow north and east through the CDP. From north to south, these include Nichols Run, Clarks Branch, and Difficult Run. Difficult Run (along with Leesburg Pike) forms the southern border of the CDP. Two of its tributaries, Captain Hickory Run and Piney Run, flow southeast through the southern part of the CDP.
As a suburb of Washington, D.C., Great Falls is a part of both the Washington Metropolitan Area and the larger Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. It is bordered on all sides by other Washington suburbs, including: Darnestown and Travilah, Maryland to the north, Potomac, Maryland to the east, McLean to the southeast, Wolf Trap to the south, Reston and Dranesville to the southwest, Sterling to the west, and Lowes Island to the northwest.
!Pop 2000
!Pop 2010
!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |Pop 2020
!% 1980
!% 2000
!% 2010
!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020
|-
|White alone (NH)
|2,317
|7,423
|11,939
|style='background: #ffffe6; |10,659
|
|
|
|style='background: #ffffe6; |
|-
|Black or African American alone (NH)
|18
|98
|268
|style='background: #ffffe6; |300
|
|
|
|style='background: #ffffe6; |
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)
|3
|9
|10
|style='background: #ffffe6; |21
|
|
|
|style='background: #ffffe6; |
|-
|Asian alone (NH)
|37
|633
|2,082
|style='background: #ffffe6; |3,160
|
|
|
|style='background: #ffffe6; |
|-
|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)
|0
|3
|3
|style='background: #ffffe6; |3
|
|
|
|style='background: #ffffe6; |
|-
|Other race alone (NH)
|
|14
|45
|style='background: #ffffe6; |99
|
|
|
|style='background: #ffffe6; |
|-
|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)
|
|150
|477
|style='background: #ffffe6; |864
|
|
|
|style='background: #ffffe6; |
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|35
|219
|603
|style='background: #ffffe6; |847
|
|
|
|style='background: #ffffe6; |
|-
|Total
|2,419
|8,549
|15,427
|style='background: #ffffe6; |15,953
|100.00%
|100.00%
|100.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%
|}
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Great Falls had a population of 15,953. There were 5,064 households and 5,273 housing units. The median age was 45.9 years. 24.2% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.2% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 96.4 males age 18 and over.
The population density was 627.6 inhabitants per square mile (242.4/km<sup>2</sup>). The average housing unit density was 207.4 per square mile (80.1/km<sup>2</sup>).
80.2% of residents lived in urban areas, while 19.8% lived in rural areas.
Of the households, 39.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 79.3% were married-couple households, 8.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 10.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 9.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average family household had 3.13 people.
|- style="background:lightgrey;"
! Year
! Democratic
! Republican
! Third Parties
|-
|align="center" |2020
|align="center" |58.37% 5,950
|align="center" |39.48% 4,024
|align="center" |2.15% 219
|-
|align="center" |2016
|align="center" |51.79% 4,954
|align="center" |41.46% 3,966
|align="center" |6.74% 645
|-
|align="center" |2012
|align="center" |43.81% 3,339
|align="center" |55.41% 4,223
|align="center" |0.78% 59
|-
|align="center" |2008
|align="center" |47.62% 3,477
|align="center" |51.75% 3,778
|align="center" |0.63% 46
|-
|align="center" |2004
|align="center" |44.55% 3,378
|align="center" |55.03% 4,173
|align="center" |0.42% 32
|-
|align="center" |2000
|align="center" |38.12% 2,662
|align="center" |58.59% 4,091
|align="center" |3.29% 230
|-
|align="center" |1996
|align="center" |36.59% 2,207
|align="center" |58.92% 3,554
|align="center" |4.49% 271
|-
|align="center" |1992
|align="center" |33.73% 1,979
|align="center" |52.40% 3,075
|align="center" |13.87% 814
|}
Parks and recreation
Although Great Falls is primarily a bedroom community for Washington, D.C., one major attraction is Great Falls Park which overlooks the Great Falls of the Potomac River, for which the community and the park are named. George Washington was involved with building a canal around the falls on the southwest, or Virginia, side, called the Patowmack Canal, which did not become commercially viable. Remnants of the canal and of a village around the canal named Matildaville are still visible in the park. The Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad extended along Old Dominion Drive to Great Falls Park in 1906.
River Bend County Park is another gathering area in Great Falls, as is the Village Green, which hosts community celebrations around Easter (Spring Festival, including an Egg Hunt), Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (Tree Lighting), as well as concerts in the summer.
Education
Fairfax County Public Schools operates the local public schools. Great Falls students attend Great Falls Elementary School, Forestville Elementary School or Colvin Run Elementary School. These schools feed into James Fenimore Cooper Middle School, which then feeds into Langley High School.
Siena Academy is a Catholic Montessori preschool and elementary school in Great Falls, under the authority of the Diocese of Arlington. It is the only private K-12 school in the town.
Fairfax County Public Library operates the Great Falls Library.
Infrastructure
The main roads serving Great Falls are Virginia State Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) and Virginia State Route 193 (Georgetown Pike).
Notable people
In popular culture
In The Real Housewives of Potomac season 3, a cast member moved to Great Falls.