What the night sky looks like over Alameda, CA

Satellite radiance puts Alameda in the rural band. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. That's brighter than 8.3% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.

The number comes from orbit, not a stargazer's logbook, so treat it as an estimate of sky glow rather than a certified Bortle class.

How far Alameda is from a meaningfully darker sky

Truckee, CA, about 158 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the dark sky band, one step darker than Alameda. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

Truckee, CA is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.

Alameda against the rest of the dataset

Alameda, CA has a population of about 78,795, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Among all 3,206 cities here, Alameda ranks 267 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.