Benicia, CA Night Sky Brightness
How dark is the sky in Benicia, CA?
Benicia 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. Benicia's sky is brighter than 10.1% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.
Worth remembering: this is satellite radiance, not a ground observation. A true Bortle rating needs a human eye at night, this is the closest large-scale substitute, covered fully in the Bortle scale guide.
How far Benicia is from a meaningfully darker sky
Truckee, CA, about 138 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the dark sky band, one step darker than Benicia. 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.
Benicia against the rest of the dataset
About 26,477 people live in Benicia, CA, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Ranked against the other 3,206 cities here by the methodology guide's own sampling, Benicia comes in at 324, darkest to brightest.