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Searchlight, Nevada

Searchlight is an unincorporated town[3] and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, at the topographic saddle between two mountain ranges. At the 2020 census it had a population of 445.[4]

Searchlight, Nevada

United States

May 6, 1897 (1897-05-06)

3.87 sq mi (10.03 km2)

3.87 sq mi (10.03 km2)

0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)

3,547 ft (1,081 m)

445

114.87/sq mi (44.35/km2)

UTC-7 (PDT)

89039, 89046

32-65600

0845654[1]

116

Geography[edit]

Climate[edit]

The city experiences a desert climate (Köppen: BWh) with hot summers and cool winters, but it is not uncommon to see temperatures below freezing. [7] Searchlight's elevation makes temperatures somewhat cooler than lower-elevation areas in the Mojave Desert, such as Baker, California; Needles, California; and Fort Mohave, Arizona. However, summers can still be extremely hot. Due to Searchlight's altitude and aridity, temperatures drop quickly after sunset, especially in the summer. Daytime highs in the winter are usually well above freezing, and nighttime lows drop below freezing only a few nights a year.

Demographics[edit]

2020 census[edit]

As of the census[9] of 2020, there were 445 people, 229 households, and 99 families residing in the CDP.

Education[edit]

Public education in Searchlight is administered by Clark County School District. The district operates Reid Elementary School (K–5) in Searchlight.[11]


Searchlight has a public library, a branch of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.[12]

Transportation[edit]

Public transport[edit]

The Silver Rider Transit operates express buses between Laughlin, Searchlight and Las Vegas.[13] Private shuttle companies connect Searchlight with Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.[14]

Highways[edit]

Searchlight is located at the junction of two highways; U.S. Route 95 which connects towards Boulder City and the Las Vegas Valley in the north and Needles, California in the south, and Nevada State Route 164 which has its eastern terminus in Searchlight and heads west towards the California border from where it becomes Nipton Road and eventually connects to Interstate 15.

westerns actor and politician. Owned the Walking Box Ranch with his wife Clara Bow. The ranch was a popular destination for Hollywood actors.[15]

Rex Bell

costume designer who won more Oscars than any other woman.[16]

Edith Head

aviator for whom Nellis Air Force Base is named[17]

William Harrell Nellis

United States senator, 1987–2017, senate majority leader, 2007–2015[18]

Harry Reid

In popular culture[edit]

In 1907, the "Searchlight Rag" by Scott Joplin was published. In the early 1890s, Joplin's friends, the brothers Tom and Charles Turpin, had been prospecting in the Searchlight area. Their frequent stories of this experience, recounted to the patrons of their bar, inspired the title of the rag.[19]


Searchlight is featured in the 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas.

Barnwell and Searchlight Railway

LORAN-C transmitter Searchlight

Searchlight Airport

Archived January 12, 2018, at the Wayback Machine

Searchlight Town Advisory Board