Great Falls
New Jersey · 75-foot drop · Last verified 2026-05-15
Great Falls is running at 637 cfs — well above seasonal normal.
Right now
Streamflow
637 cfs
Passaic River at Little · 34m ago
Overnight
70°F
Patchy Fog
Friday
88°F
Patchy Fog then Chance Showers And Thunderstorms
Today's daylight
Sunrise 5:33 AM · Sunset 8:30 PM · 14h 56m
Snapshot built 10m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS OKX.
Great Falls is a waterfall in Passaic County, New Jersey. It drops roughly 75 feet. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Great Falls sits in Passaic County, New Jersey. It drops along The Great Falls of the Passaic River. The base sits at roughly 154 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 1 minutes from Paterson. OpenStreetMap shows a trail within 30 meters of the marked location, though the name isn't recorded. No public parking is recorded within 2 km, so a longer approach is likely. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
The Great Falls of the Passaic River is a 77-foot (23 m) high waterfall on the Passaic River in the city of Paterson in Passaic County, New Jersey. One of the United States' largest waterfalls, it played a significant role in the early industrial development of New Jersey starting in the earliest days of the nation. The falls and surrounding area are protected as part of the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, administered by the National Park Service. Congress authorized its establishment in 2009.
Is the water flowing right now?
Most waterfall sites don't tell you this. The waterfall itself is almost never gauged, but a USGS streamgage in the same watershed can tell you whether snowmelt has started, peaked, or run dry.
USGS gage 01389500 · 3.2 mi away
Passaic River at Little Falls NJ
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Above 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 310 cfs · 290% of last year — significantly wetter
Compare to nearby falls
If this one isn't the right fit, here's how it stacks up against the closest documented falls. Every column is filterable on the site — not buried in 13,000 reviews.
| Waterfall | Distance | Height | Trail | Dogs | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Falls (this page) | — | 75 ft | — | — | — |
| Bridal Veil Falls | 2 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Buttermilk Falls | 5 mi | — | — | — | — |
| MacMillan Brook Falls | 11 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Chikahoki Falls | 12 mi | — | — | — | Free |
| Boonton Falls | 12 mi | — | — | — | — |
Side-by-side comparisons
Great Falls compared head-to-head with other documented falls — height, access, fees, dogs, swimmability in one row each.
Related waterfalls
Similar height (~75 ft)
- Big Bradley Falls75 ft
- Curtain Falls75 ft
- Dead Point Falls75 ft
- Drift Creek Falls75 ft
- Hamma Hamma Falls75 ft
Questions visitors ask about Great Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
How tall is Great Falls?
Great Falls is 75 feet (23 m) tall. Height is sourced from OSM.
How far is Great Falls from a major city?
Great Falls is 1 miles from Paterson (about 1 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in New Jersey
Where it is
40.9167, -74.1817
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Falls_(Passaic_River)
Wikidata (Q5599145)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5599145
GeoNames (5102453)
https://www.geonames.org/5102453/
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
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