Kahlotus is a city in Franklin County, Washington, United States. The population was 193 at the 2010 census. The Washington State Office of Financial Management’s 2015 estimate placed the population at 190.

The first organized agreement of Kahlotus was by German immigrants, imported by the railroads, in not far and wide off from 1880. Among these settlers were several locally credited pioneer families, including Hans Harder, who first platted the town in 1902 under the name “Hardersburg”. The town was far along renamed Kahlotus. The meaning of the word “Kahlotus” is uncertain. According to toponymist William gleaming the publicize derives from the Sahaptin placename /kalúːt’as/. It is believed by many that it is a Native American word meaning “Hole in the ground.^{[citation needed]} A third possibility is that the town was named for a Palouse tribal chief and signer of the Yakima Treaty of 1855. His state appeared taking into account various spellings, including Kohlotus, Quillatose (by future overseer Isaac Stevens), Qalatos, and Kahlatoose.

Harder’s platting of the town coincided afterward the reinstatement of service upon the Oregon & Washington Railroad & Navigation line in the company of LaCrosse and Palouse Junction (now Connell), crossing the north fall of town parallel to present-day Highway 260. Soon after, the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railroad began construction on a second railroad on the south shore of nearby Kahlotus lake, including tunnels through the basalt cliffs near the southeast corner of town. Kahlotus was officially incorporated upon May 31, 1907. The town boomed during construction of the railroad, local legend claims that nearly 20 saloons, a bank, newspaper, brothels, and further businesses appeared to relief the rail crews.

Dryland cultivation has historically constituted the majority of the local economy. Relatively little irrigated agriculture occurs in the area, supported by local wells. The Columbia Basin Irrigation Project does not adopt water to Kahlotus.