Here’s How Much It Costs to Light the Las Vegas Strip and Other Famous Illuminated Landmarks

Las Vegas is world-famous for its cacophony of neon lights that never dim — but it turns out that unceasing illumination comes at quite a high price.

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According to research from Smart Lighting Industries, a U.K.-based team of lighting equipment distributors, the Las Vegas Strip is as bright as it is thanks to the presence of 12,000,000 lights — a dazzling display that takes an estimated $485,587,824 to run annually. Apparently, the money spent by the millions of visitors attracted by the lights each year makes the expense worth it.

With its many casinos and hotels, the Las Vegas Strip is the world's most expensive attraction to keep illuminated 24/7, but many other hot spots around the globe are also expensive to light, according to Smart Lighting's research.

Though it's in third place, just after the Empire State Building (68,000 lights at an annual cost of $12,918,520), New York City's Times Square seems like a low-budget landmark when compared to the price tag of lighting the Strip. According to Smart Lighting's estimations, the famous assemblage of ever-illuminated billboards and blinking Broadway lights in the city that never sleeps clocks in at just under $10 million each year.

Going down the list from there, things get much more "affordable." The Sydney Opera House costs around $1,974,955 to light each year, while London's Buckingham Palace comes in at approximately $1,524,253, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris at $1,335,246.

Despite their incredible displays, the Statue of Liberty, Ain Dubai, Luxor Sky Beam, and Burj Khalifa are all estimated to cost less than $1 million to light each year.

As impressive as these lighting displays are, no man-made attraction can outshine the glow of a galaxy of stars, best viewed beneath a dark sky miles from neon lights, LEDs, and bulbs of any kind.