The Ivanpah Valley is in southeastern California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and southern Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The valley is between the New York Mountains

New York Mountains

The New York Mountains are found in northeastern San Bernardino County in California, USA; the range's northeast lies in southeast Nevada. The range lies just south of the small community of Ivanpah, and north of the Lanfair Valley. The mountains are part of the mountain ranges, cones, mountains,...

 and the Ivanpah Mountains

Ivanpah Mountains

The Ivanpah Mountains are located in the southeastern Mojave Desert of California in the United States. The range lies to the south and east of the Mescal Range and west of the Ivanpah Valley and New York Mountains. The mountains lie in a southwest-northeasterly direction, and are home to the...

 in San Bernardino County on the California side, and in Clark County

Clark County, Nevada

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,375,765 people, 512,253 households, and 339,693 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 71.6% White , 9.1% Black, 5.7% Asian, 0.8% American Indian and 12.8% of other or mixed race. 22.0% were Hispanic of any race...

 on the Nevada side. The communities of Cima, California

Cima, California

Cima is a small unincorporated community in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, in the United States. Few people live in the area...

, Nipton, California

Nipton, California

Nipton is an unincorporated town in San Bernardino County, California, on the northern edge of Mojave National Preserve, west of Searchlight, Nevada. It has a population of 20 people....

, Jean, Nevada

Jean, Nevada

Jean is a small commercial town in Clark County, Nevada, located approximately north of the Nevada-California state line along Interstate 15. Las Vegas is located about to the north...

, and Primm, Nevada

Primm, Nevada

Primm is a tiny community in Clark County, Nevada, United States, primarily notable for its position straddling Interstate 15 where it crosses the border between California and Nevada...

 are in the valley. The Ivanpah Dry Lake

Ivanpah Dry Lake

Ivanpah Lake is a dry lake bed in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California on the border of California and Nevada. Nestled in the Ivanpah Valley near Primm on Interstate 15, the lake is almost entirely within California. At the north edge of the lake lie the Nevada Welcome Center ...

, a popular place for land sailing

Land sailing

Land sailing, also known as sand yachting or land yachting, is the act of moving across land in a wheeled vehicle powered by wind through the use of a sail. The term comes from analogy with sailing. Historically, land sailing was used as a mode of transportation or recreation...

, and the site of the proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport

Ivanpah Valley Airport

Ivanpah Valley Airport is a planned relief airport for McCarran International Airport serving the Las Vegas area to be located near Primm, Nevada. Since there is only limited space left for expansion at McCarran a new airport is the only alternative to increase capacity by a significant amount...

 also lie in the valley.

The headwaters of the valley lie in the south and southeast in the north of the Mojave National Preserve

Mojave National Preserve

Mojave National Preserve is located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, USA, between Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. The preserve was established October 31, 1994 with the passage of the California Desert Protection Act by the US Congress...

; the southeast of the valley is a water divide

Water divide

A drainage divide, water divide, divide or watershed is the line separating neighbouring drainage basins...

 point at the south of the McCullough Range, with four valleys, and four mountain ranges. (The Piute Valley

Piute Valley

The Piute Valley is a long north-south valley southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and northwest of Needles. The north of the valley is at Searchlight, with some of the valley extending northwest from Searchlight. At the center-north lies Cal-Nev-Ari, Nevada....

 drains southeast into the Colorado River

Colorado River

The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...

; the Eldorado Valley

Eldorado Valley

Eldorado Valley, or El Dorado Valley, is a Great Basin valley in the Mojave Desert southeast of Las Vegas and southwest of Boulder City, Nevada...

northeast is endorheic.)