The community, located on State Route 225 approximately 16 miles (26 km) south of the Idaho border, is situated on the Owyhee River.

[5] Due to its small size, Mountain City is classified by some writers as a ghost town.

Mountain City, along with the rest of Nevada except for the city of West Wendover, is legally in the Pacific Time Zone,[7] but, along with other Idaho border towns such as Jackpot, Jarbidge and Owyhee, unofficially observes the Mountain Time Zone due to closer proximity to and greater connections with towns in southern Idaho.

[8] Mountain City sees a humid continental climate (Koppen: Dfb) with four seasons and generally not a large amount of year-round precipitation.

Due to its high elevation the area sees very cold nights - even in summer, with frost possible in every month.