Work & commute · Great Falls

Work & commute in Great Falls, VA

Most working residents leave Great Falls for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Washington (13%), Tysons (11%) and Reston (8%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

419 of 6,526 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

34 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

44%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 6,107 Great Falls residents head out of town to work, 419 work right here, and 2,519 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Great Falls.

6,107live here, work elsewhere

419live and work here

2,519work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Great Falls goes to work

Washington, DC17 mi away

13%865

Tysons7.4 mi away

11%727

Reston5 mi away

8%503

Arlington14.2 mi away

7%463

Great Falls (in town)right here

6%419

Springfield17.1 mi away

3%187

McLean7.5 mi away

2%160

McNair7.3 mi away

2%157

Herndon5.4 mi away

2%135

Alexandria17.8 mi away

2%122

Everywhere elseother towns and states

43%2,788

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Great Falls commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

46%

45%

46%Under 10 mi

45%10–24 mi

3%25–50 mi

7%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Great Falls is a commuter town

0.45jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.45 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Great Falls are

2,938 jobs are based in Great Falls. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Great Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Great Falls

2,938 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities8%

Services (health, schools, offices…)84%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month20%

Over $3,333 a month66%

Jobs Great Falls residents hold

6,526 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)5%

Trade, transport & utilities10%

Services (health, schools, offices…)85%

$1,250 a month or less8%

$1,251–$3,333 a month11%

Over $3,333 a month81%

+14%

Jobs based in Great Falls, 2013 → 2023: 2,572 → 2,938. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.