Ankeny, IA: how dark is the sky here?

Ankeny reads as urban on this dataset's scale. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Ankeny's sky is brighter than 86.2% 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 Ankeny is from a meaningfully darker sky

The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Johnston, IA, roughly 7 miles away in a straight line, rated rural. Road distance will be more.

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

How Ankeny compares nationally

Ankeny, IA has a population of about 76,727, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Ankeny places 2,749 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.