Best PlacesGreat Falls, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Great Falls, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Great Falls ranks 39,737th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Great Falls
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Great Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Where Great Falls ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Cheap childcare$619 a month, better than 77% of towns
Where Great Falls ranks low
- Household income$50,835 median, better than only 13% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 19% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 19% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Great Falls
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Great Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,835, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Great Falls' effective rate of 0.49%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Great Falls
Great Falls runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Great Falls.
Who works in Great Falls, and how
Work in Great Falls centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Great Falls
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Great Falls.
What the weather is like in Great Falls, month by month
Great Falls sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 74° | 62° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Great Falls
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 44 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.9 million passengers in 2025, with 213 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Great Falls
Schools across Great Falls average a D+, better than 19% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lewisville ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Chester Park Elementary School Of Literacy And TechnologyD− · 15% proficient
- Fairfield ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lewisville MiddleC · 35% proficient
- South MiddleD · 20% proficient
- Chester MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Lewisville HighA− · 60% proficient
- Chester Senior HighB− · 45% proficient
- Great Falls HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Great Falls school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Great Falls measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Great Falls against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Great Falls
Is Great Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Great Falls ranks 39,737th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, tree cover, and walkability, and lowest on low incomes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Great Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $154,005. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $50,835 median income, cost of living beats 19% of towns.
Is Great Falls safe?
Great Falls is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $637 per resident a year.
Compare Great Falls with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Great Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Great Falls represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Great Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Great Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Great Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Great Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Great Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Great Falls detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.