Laughlin

Established

1940's

Population

11,000+

Annual Visitors

2 Million

Nevada’s southern-most community, Laughlin, is nestled between the Colorado River and the mountains at the point where Nevada, California, and Arizona meet in the desert.

Home to some 11,000 residents, the modern community includes retirees from every career imaginable who are better-off financially than average and higher educated than average. Most pay cash for their homes in the residential area called Upper Laughlin at the base of the mountains overlooking the Colorado River.

As part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area, Laughlin, also is a distinct part of the tri-state river communities’ Mohave Valley, extending to Needles, Calif., and Golden Shores on the south at Interstate 40 upriver to Bullhead City and the Lake Mohave section of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on the north.

 

Mission: To create and implement a collaborative venture among civic and business leaders in the town of Laughlin, to promote the health, welfare and quality of life for the residents of Laughlin through economic development.

 

Services Provided

As an Unincorporated Township, Laughlin’s municipal-type services are provided by Clark County, its subsidiary districts, and several metropolitan-type regional districts, including police, fire, water, sewer, streets, parks and recreation, library, transit (24-hour fixed-route service), flood control, tourism, and schools. The Clark County Commission is assisted by an elected 5-member Town Advisory Board.

The county and special districts have invested significantly into infrastructure for diversification to help the community grow. The community has plenty of water, drawn directly from the Colorado River, and sewer services for domestic, commercial, and industrial use.

Economic Development

The Laughlin Economic Development Corporation provides business development and site selection resources for businesses and industries wishing to locate in the township of some 80 square miles, of which only about 6 square miles are developed. The LEDC works closely with the county’s Town Manager’s Office, LVGEA, and the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

Some 14 square miles of vacant land extends to the California and Arizona borders immediately south of the Big Bend State Park, which the 4 lane Needles Highway (15 miles to Interstate 40) bisects. A county-commissioned study showed industrial, commercial, and residential areas feasible for development. Also, the electric utilities that own a 4 square mile block in the middle of town, have offered more than 2,000 acres for sale to a master developer – with all utilities and roads surrounding the site of a former electric generating station that has been removed.

Laughlin also enjoys two visitor seasons a year, attracting some 2 million visitors annually. In the mild winters, snowbirds flock to the community in their RVs. In the summer, Laughlin draws water-worshipping/sun-loving visitors with their watercrafts whom share the aquatic, eastern Nevada border with the community’s water taxis and riverboats.

Laughlin also is home to Nevada’s Big Bend State Recreational Park, complete with full service RV hookups and services, and the Clark County-operated Colorado River Heritage Greenway Park and Trails for walking, hiking, bicycling, and equestrian use, plus picnic and fishing facilities. It extends several miles from Davis Dam, which forms Lake Mohave, downstream to a scenic pedestrian bridge over Nevada Highway 163 that extends into Downtown Laughlin. Ten casinos, many with high-rise towers providing tremendous views of the water, slopes, and mountains framing Laughlin to the east and west, provide gambling, dining, entertainment, and shopping in a 2 mile strip, and the Laughlin River Walk between the resorts and the water’s edge.