The famous tall falls
Rankings of the tallest waterfalls in the United States disagree, and the reason is almost always the same: whether a waterfall's height is the total drop from top to bottom, including cascades and pools between tiers, or only its tallest single drop. The list below uses the figures most commonly published by the National Park Service and the World Waterfall Database, and says which kind of height each one is where it matters.
| Waterfall | State | Height | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olo'upena Falls | Hawaii (Molokai) | 2,953 ft | Often listed as the tallest in the US. Falls in several steps down the sea cliffs of Molokai's north shore; seen only from the air or sea. |
| Colonial Creek Falls | Washington | 2,568 ft | A long series of cascades in North Cascades National Park, far from any trail. Its height comes from the World Waterfall Database's survey. |
| Yosemite Falls | California | 2,425 ft | Upper Fall, middle cascades and Lower Fall together, per the National Park Service. The most famous tall waterfall in the country, and easy to see. |
| Ribbon Fall | California | 1,612 ft | Yosemite's tallest single drop, which the park service calls the tallest single-drop waterfall in North America. Usually dry by midsummer. |
| Hi'ilawe Falls | Hawaii | about 1,450 ft | At the back of Waipi'o Valley on the Big Island. Access to the valley is restricted. |
| Amicalola Falls | Georgia | 729 ft | The tallest in Georgia, a long cascade with stairs beside it. |
| Multnomah Falls | Oregon | 620 ft | Two tiers in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon's most visited natural site. |
| Bridalveil Fall | California | 617 ft | At the entrance to Yosemite Valley, a short walk from the road. |
The tallest US waterfalls cluster in two kinds of place. Hawaii's are fed by trade-wind rain falling on sea cliffs and valley walls carved into volcanoes. The mainland's tallest are in glacier-carved valleys in the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades, where ice deepened the main valley and left side streams hanging high above it. Yosemite Valley is the classic example: Yosemite Falls, Ribbon Fall, Bridalveil Fall and Sentinel Fall all pour from hanging valleys.
Tall is not the same as big
Many of the tallest falls carry little water, and some dry up by late summer. Ribbon Fall is often a dry streak on the cliff by July. Niagara Falls, by contrast, drops less than 200 feet but carries more water than any other falls in North America. When people ask for the biggest waterfall they often mean the most powerful, and that is a different list. Our guide to how waterfall height is measured explains the ways the numbers are produced and why they differ.
The tallest falls recorded on our map
These are the tallest falls on our map by the height recorded in OpenStreetMap, where volunteer mappers tag a height when they have a source. Mappers use different conventions, some recording the total height and some a single drop, and a few tags may be wrong, so treat the figures as approximate and the ranking as a starting point for exploring. 918 falls on the map have a height as of 2026-09-23.
| # | Waterfall | State | Recorded height |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Snow Mountain Falls | California | 2,198 ft |
| 2 | Snow Creek Falls | California | 2,133 ft |
| 3 | Hiʻilawe Falls | Hawaii | 2,051 ft |
| 4 | Sentinel Fall | California | 1,936 ft |
| 5 | Louis Creek Falls | Washington | 1,720 ft |
| 6 | Ribbon Fall | California | 1,612 ft |
| 7 | Horsetail Fall | California | 1,542 ft |
| 8 | Upper Yosemite Falls | California | 1,444 ft |
| 9 | Bridal Veil Falls-Mine Cascade | Washington | 1,291 ft |
| 10 | Wapama Falls | California | 1,286 ft |
| 11 | Drury Falls | Washington | 1,267 ft |
| 12 | Big Heart Falls | Washington | 1,262 ft |
| 13 | Royal Arch Cascade | California | 1,247 ft |
| 14 | Silver Cord Cascade | Wyoming | 1,214 ft |
| 15 | Chagoopa Falls | California | 1,201 ft |
| 16 | Otter Falls | Washington | 1,200 ft |
| 17 | Lehamite Falls | California | 1,181 ft |
| 18 | Staircase Falls | California | 1,017 ft |
| 19 | Shoestring Falls | Washington | 984 ft |
| 20 | Green Lake Falls | Washington | 981 ft |
| 21 | Bird Woman Falls | Montana | 951 ft |
| 22 | Tueeulala Falls | California | 915 ft |
| 23 | Berdeen Falls | Washington | 899 ft |
| 24 | Depot Creek Falls | Washington | 886 ft |
| 25 | Kvasnikoff Falls | Alaska | 699 ft |
| 26 | Yosemite Falls | California | 676 ft |
| 27 | Rampart Falls | Washington | 644 ft |
| 28 | Wildcat Falls | California | 623 ft |
| 29 | Bridalveil Fall | California | 617 ft |
| 30 | Bridal Veil Falls | Utah | 607 ft |
Seeing the tall ones
Several of the tallest falls in the country are easy to see: Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Fall from the floor of Yosemite Valley, Multnomah Falls from a paved path beside the Historic Columbia River Highway, and Amicalola Falls from a road and staircase. Others, like Olo'upena and Colonial Creek, are seen only from the air, the sea or a long backcountry trip. Snowmelt falls in the Sierra and the Cascades are fullest in May and June. See the best time to see waterfalls for each region, and waterfalls by state for the tallest in yours.