A local similarity solution to the viscous‐gravity jet valid for large Reynolds number flows is given. The jet is divided into an inner core where axial gradients are small relative to the outer annular region. A similarity transformation is found for the outer region, reducing the resulting differential equations to a two‐point boundary value problem. This solution is matched to the inner solution through the boundary conditions. This approach effectively eliminates the mathematical difficulties associated with the unknown free surface and the stress singularity at the exit.