Kingman is the Mohave County seat, located in northwestern Arizona, bordered on the north by Utah, on the northwest by Nevada and the southwest side of the county by California. It is nestled in the far eastern reaches of the Mohave Desert between the Hualapai and Cerbat mountains at an altitude of 3,400 feet.

The city was established in the early 1880's by Lewis Kingman, who located the route of the Santa Fe Railway. It was incorporated in 1952 at the intersection of Interstate 40, U.S. Highway 93 and the original Route 66.

The scenic mountains around Kingman include Hualapai Mountain Park and the Cerbat and Hualapai mountains, which offer hiking, picnicking, camping and other outdoor activities. The Kingman and nearly Colorado River areas offer historical and recreational attractions as do many ghost towns in the area. There are also about 1,000 miles of freshwater shoreline within Mohave County, including the Colorado River as it runs through the Grand Canyon, Lake Mead, Lake Mohave and Lake Havasu.

Kingman has a multiple resource historic district, with a developed walking tour and district map, which can be seen at Locomotive Park. Other interesting sights within or near Kingman include the Beale Wagon Road, Beale Springs and the White Cliffs Wagon Road.

Kingman is also home to the Route 66 Association, the headquarters for the promotion of the original east to west "Mother Road," offering the longest remaining preserved stretch of the old U.S. Route 66 left in the United States.

The population of Kingman and the nearby surrounding county area is estimated as of 1999 to be nearly 40,000. Kingman is also a regional trade service and distribution center for northwestern Arizona. Its strategic location centered between Los Angles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, the gambling casinos at Laughlin, Nevada and the Grand Canyon, make tourism, manufacturing / distribution and transportation the city's leading industries.

Kingman and its historical downtown shops are also part of the Arizona Main Street Program.