Darien, IL's night sky, measured from orbit

Satellite radiance puts Darien in the suburban edge band. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. That's brighter than 42% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.

Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things.

How far Darien is from a meaningfully darker sky

Bartlett, IL, about 18 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Darien. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Darien compares nationally

About 22,015 people live in Darien, IL, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Darien places 1,341 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.