Albemarle, NC: how dark is the sky here?

Albemarle reads as suburban edge on this dataset's scale. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Albemarle's sky is brighter than 32.6% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.

This comes from a satellite measuring light radiating upward, not a person's eyes on the ground, so it isn't the same as a Bortle class, though the two track each other closely.

How far Albemarle is from a meaningfully darker sky

27 miles from Albemarle, straight-line, sits Kannapolis, NC, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Albemarle's own suburban edge band.

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

How Albemarle compares nationally

About 17,344 people live in Albemarle, NC, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Albemarle places 1,039 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.