Arcata, CA: how dark is the sky here?

Arcata reads as rural on this dataset's scale. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. That's brighter than 5.3% of the 3,206 US 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.

The nearest darker sky to Arcata

230 miles from Arcata, straight-line, sits Truckee, CA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Arcata's own rural band.

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.

How Arcata compares nationally

Arcata, CA counts roughly 18,748 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Arcata places 171 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.